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STORY OF MY LIFE AND WORK 



BY THE SAME AUTHOR 

The Logic of Christian Evidences — Andover: Warren F. 
Draper, 1880, i2mo, pp. xii, 312. $1.50. 

Studies in Science and Religion* — Warren F. Draper, 1882, 
1 2 mo, pp. xvi, 390. $1.50. 

An [nquiry concerning the Relation of Death to Pro- 
bation — Boston: Congregational Publishing Society, 1882, 
i2ino, pp. viii, 114. $0.75. , 

The Divine Authority of the Bible — Boston: Congrega- 
tional S. S. and Publishing Society, 1884, i2mo, pp. xii, 
241. $1.25. 

The Ice Age in North America and its Bearings upon the 
Antiquity of Man. — 1st ed., New York: D. Appleton 
& Co., 1889, 8vo, pp. xx, 625. 5th ed., Oberiin: Biblio- 
theca Sacra Co., 1912, 8vo, pp. xx, 763. $5.00. 

Charles Grandison Finney — (American Religious Leaders 
Series) — Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1891, i2mo, pp. 
329. $1.25. 

Man and the Glacial Period — (International Scientific Sc- 
ries) — New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1897, i2mo, pp. 
xxxii, 358. $1.75. 

Greenland Ice Fields and Life in the North Atlantic — 
D. Appleton & Co., 1896, i2mo, pp. xv, 407. $2.00. 

Scientific Aspects of Christian Evidences — D. Appleton 
& Co., 1898, i2mo, pp. xi, 362. $1.50. 

Asiatic Russia — New York: McClure, Phillips & Co., 1902, 
two volumes, 8vc, pp. 600. $7.50. 

Scientific Confirmations of Old Testament History — 
Oberiin: Bibliotheca Sacra Co., 1906, i2mo, pp. xv, 434. 
$2.00. 

Origin and Antiquity of Man — Bibliotheca Sacra Co., 1912, 
i2mo, pp. xx, 547. $2.00. 

See Ohio First: A Guide to the Best Routes to the Most 
Interesting Scenes in the Buckeye State — Oberiin: 
Bibliotheca Sacra Co., 191 5, 8vc, pp. viii, 85. $0.50. 



STORY OF MY LIFE AND WORK 



BY 

G. FREDERICK WRIGHT 

D.D., LL.D., F. G.S. A. 



Surely there are in every man's life certain rubs, 
doubting Si and wrenches, which pass awhile un- 
der the effects, of chance, but, at the last, well 
examined, prove the mere hand of God. 

—Sir Tliornas Browne 



Oberlin, Ohio, U.S.A. 

Bibliotheca Sacra Company 

1916 






COPYRIGHTED 1916 BY 
BIBLIOTHECA SACRA COMPANY 



The News Printing Co., Oberlin, O. 




LC Control Number 



DEC 19 1916 

©CI.A446849 




tmp96 028762 



TO 

®fj£ UJattg (Bntmraa IfitxtnbB 

WHOSE INTEREST 

THROUGH ALL THESE YEARS HAS BEEN 

AN INSPIRATION, 

THIS VOLUME IS AFFECTIONATELY 

DEDICATED 



PREFACE 

The sixty years of my active life cover a period of 
unexampled intellectual as well as of mechanical read- 
justments. To the discussion of the intellectual prob- 
lems which have special bearings on our religious life 
Providence has given me a call which I could not de- 
cline. The chief reason for the preparation and pub- 
lication of the present volume has been to keep in the 
foreground of the public consciousness the new argu- 
ments and recently discovered facts (some of which I 
have contributed) supporting reasonably conservative 
views concerning the relation of science to the Bible. 
This I do at the present time, not because I think my 
work is all done, but because this survey should be 
made while my powers are still unabated. 

A minor reason for the publication of the volume 
is that as an autobiography (which it really is) it will 
serve to bring before the minds of the present gener- 
ation a vivid picture of the conditions of life during 
the last half of the nineteenth century, when most of 
these readjustments referred to were being made. 

I am encouraged to make this venture from the fact 
that more than 40,000 of my contemporaries have pur- 
chased the books I have written, and a still larger 



viii Preface 

number have read my numerous contributions to the 
current periodicals of the time, a partial list of which 
is given in the appendix. A glance at this list will tell 
better than words how constantly the subjects on 
which I have written have been before my mind, and 
how w T ide has been the range of investigations upon 
which my conclusions have been based. 

By permission of the Publishers of the Nation I 
have made free use of letters published in that periodi- 
cal, relating to my trip across Asia, but for the most 
part the form of these communications has been some- 
what changed. 

With strong assurance that the fundamental truths 
which I have attempted to define and defend will 
ultimately prevail, notwithstanding the eclipse into 
which many of them have fallen, I offer the volume for 
the consideration, both of the general public, and of 
the scientific and theological fraternities to which it 
has been my privilege to belong. 

G. Frederick Wright. 

Oberlin, Ohio, November, 19 16. 



CONTENTS 



Chapter I 



Happy Days of Childhood I 

Grandparents settle in Whitehall, N. Y., 4; Their 
conversion, 9; Mother's early life, 12; Marriage 
proposal, 17; The cousins, 19; Pleasures of child- 
hood, 23 ; The country church, 28 ; Common-school 
and early education, 32; Teaching district school, 
38 ; Prophet Miller, 39. 

Chapter II 

College Days at Oberlin 41 

Reasons for going to Oberlin, 41 ; Home life in Ober- 
lin, 45 ; History of the college, 49 ; Its cosmopolitan 
character, 53 ; Finney's peculiarities, 56; The pro- 
fessors, 60; The college curriculum, 72; Teaching 
winter schools, 76; The anti-slavery conflict, 89; 
The Oberlin-Wellington Rescue Case, 90; The Civil 
War, 96 ; Enlistment in the army, 97 ; Experiences 
of Company C, 101 ; Revival in Brownsville, 104. 

Chapter III 

Ten Years in a Country Parish 106 

Choice of a field, 106; Marriage, 107; Peculiari- 
ties of the parish, 109; Habits of study, 115; Par- 
ish duties, 117; Results, 119; Associates in the min- 
istry, 121 ; Geological studies, 123 ; The Champlain 
Valley during the Glacial epoch, 125. 

Chapter IV 
Ten Years at Andover 127 

Character of the parish, 128 ; The theological sem- 
inary, 130; A geological problem, 132; Its solution, 



Contents 



134; Connection with the Bibliotheca Sacra, 136; 
Friendship of Asa Gray, 137; Connection with Bos- 
ton Society of Natural History, 139; Prehistoric man 
in Trenton, N. J., 141 ; The Logic of Christian Evi- 
dences, 142; The glacial boundary in Pennsylva- 
nia, 144. 

Chapter V 

Transfer to Oberlin 146 

The call to Oberlin, 146; Continuation of the gla- 
cial survey, 147; Interest in the glacial work, 150. 

Chapter VI 

Significance of Glacial Phenomena 151 

Interest in glacial investigations, 151 ; Discovery of 
palaeolithic implements, 152; Glacial dam at Cin- 
cinnati, 154; Trip to Alaska, 156; Interesting expe- 
riences, 157; Retreat of the glacier, 159. 

Chapter VII 

Reception of My Glacial View r s 160 

Publication of the Ice Age in North America, 161 ; 
Lava flows in the Snake River Valley, 165; Gla- 
cial enlargement of Great Salt Lake, 167; The Cal- 
averas skull, 170. 

Chapter VIII 

First Visit to Europe 17 1 

Supposed postglacial submergence of England, 171 ; 
Professor Kendall's assistance, 173. 

Chapter IX 

Shipwrecked in Greenland 175 

Collision with an iceberg, 176; Landing at Sukker- 



Contents xi 



toppen, 178; Running on a reef, 179; Expedition 
to Ikamiut Fiord, 180; The colony at Snkkertoppen, 
182; The Eskimo, 184; Dr. Frederick Cook, 187; 
Loss of the Miranda, 189; Captain Dixon, 190. 

Chapter X 

Theological Studies 193 

Life of President Finney, 193; Finney's theological 
system, 195; New School Calvinism, 197; Scien- 
tific Aspects of Christian Evidences, 199. 

Chapter XI 

Across Asia 201 

Mr. Baldwin's generosity, 201 ; Lectures in Japan, 
203 ; The Japanese professors, 207 ; The head of the 
Japanese tobacco trust, 208 ; Baron Rosen's friend- 
ship, 209; Silt in the Chinese Sea, 211; Arrival at 
Tientsin, 213; at Peking, 215; Providential deliv- 
erance, 216; Trip to Kalgan, 217; Chinese peculiar- 
ities, 219; The Ming Tombs, 221; Kalgan, 225; 
Mongolian plateau, 227; Chinese inns, 230; Catholic 
Mission of Shiwantse, 232; The Boxer revolution, 
233; Escape from Peking, 234; Admiral Alexieff at 
Port Arthur, 236; Lack of government in Manchu- ^ 
ria, 239; Russian engineers at Teling, 241; Mis- 
sionaries at Kwan-Chen-tse, 245; Harbin, 246; 
Down the Sungari River and up the Usuri, 247- 
253; News of the Boxer revolution, 250; Up the 
Amur, 253-260; Traveling companions, 253; Mas- 
sacre at Blagovestchensk, 257; Transbaikalia, 260- 
282; City of Chita, 261; Lake Bdikal, 262-266; 
Irkutsk to Krasnoyarsk, 266-269 ; Political exiles, 
267; Minusinsk, 269-272; Remarkable museum, 271; 
Krasnoyarsk to Omsk, 273-277; Internal navigation, 
274; Increase of population, 276; Fourteen Hun- 
dred Miles by Tarantass, 277-298 ; Russian Post- 



xii Contents 



roads, 277; Our tarantass, 279; Semipalatinsk, 282; 
Companions in travel, 285; Lake Balkash, 287; Ala- 
tau Mountains, 289; The city of Verni, 291; The 
irrigated belt, 292; Tashkent, 294; Samarkand, 
298-305; Tamerlane, 301; Splendid ruins, 303; 
Alexander at Samarkand, 304; Pumpelly's excava- 
tions at Merv, 305 ; The Caspian basin during the 
Glacial epoch, 306 ; Elevated shore line at Trebi- 
zond, 308 ; Over the Dariel Pass, 309 ; Rostov, Mos- 
cow, Petrograd, Kiev, and Odessa, 311; Prehistoric 
remains at Kiev, 314; The Great Jordan Fault, 317- 
331; From Damascus to the Jordan Valley, 320; 
High level terraces about the Jordan Valley, 323 ; 
Frcm Jerusalem to the south end of the Dead Sea, 
324; Jordan Valley during the Glacial epoch, 327; 
Accident to Mrs. Bent, 329 ; Egypt, Greece, Italy, 
331; Excursion to Palermo, 332; Home Again, 
333-338; Publishing results, 333; Glacial problem in 
Missouri, 335; Prehistoric man at Lansing, Kan., 
337; Summary of Results of the Asiatic Trip, 339— 
349; Lectures in Japan, 339; The Russian people, 
. 340; Religion in Russia, 341; Russian church music, 
343; Future of Russia, 344; Scientific results, 345. 

Chapter XII 

Third Visit to Europe 350 

Kitchen middens of Denmark, 351 ; Geological ex- 
cursion with Dr. Hoist in southern Sweden, 352; 
The largest glacial bowlder in the world, 354; 
Raised beaches at Solvitsborg, 356; Stockholm to 
Petrograd, 357; Political discontent in Russia, 358; 
Mr. Stead in Moscow, 360; Traveling companions 
from Moscow to Rostov, 363 ; A week at Rostov, 
365; Kertch, Theodosia, Yalta, 367; Yalta to Se- 
vastopol, 368; Syria and Palestine, 370-383; Custom- 
house at Constantincple, 371 ; Visiting the cedars of 



Co n tents xiii 



Lebanon with Professor Day, 372; Baalbek and 
Damascus, 375; Visiting Selah Merrill on a house- 
top at Jaffa, 376 ; Where Israel crossed the Red 
Sea, 377; Scientific Confirmations of Old Testa- 
ment History, 379-383; The Stone Lectures, 379; 
The reception of the book, 381. 

Chapter XIII 

Fourth Visit to Europe 384 

Palaeolithic remains at Amiens, 384; Rubble drift 
at Sangatte and Brighton, 386; Lectures in Eng- 
land, 388; Publishing Origin and Antiquity of Man, 
390. 

Chapter XIV 

Editorial Work 392 

Bibliotheca Sacra, 392; The New Departure at 
Andover, 393 ; Transfer of Bibliotheca Sacra to 
Oberlin, 395; Contributors to Bibliotheca Sacra, 397; 
Harold M. Wiener, 400; Rev. E. S. Buchanan, 402; 
Advanced scholarship of Bibliotheca Sacra, 406; 
Records of the Past, 407. 

Chapter XV 

Archaeological and Professorial Work 408 

Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society, 
408 ; Lack of local interest in the State, 409 ; 
Marked revival of interest, 411; Colaborers, 413; 
Remarkable results of our explorations, 414; Pro- 
fessors associated with me in Oberlin, 415; my 
class work, 416; Parting words, 417. 

Chapter XVI 

My Creed 418 

1, 2. Personality of God, 418; 3. A system of sec- 



XIV Contents 



ondary causes, 419; 4, 5. God a creator, 420; 6. An 
orderly progress in the development of life, 421 ; 

7. Sudden appearance of man in the world, 422; 

8. The magnitude and complications of the Glacial 
epoch unappreciated, 423 ; 9. Abnormal conditions 
of the Glacial epoch, 424; 10. Man contemporane- 
ous with the closing stages of the Glacial epoch, 
425; 11. The flood connected with the Glacial epoch, 
426; 12. Man needs an historical revelation, 426; 
13. The Bible such a revelation, 427; 14. More 
care needed in interpreting the Bible, 428; 15. The 
books of the New Testament genuine and authorita- 
tive, 431; 16. The early formulas of Christian doc- 
trine too valuable to lose, 432; 17. Safe leaders will 
be raised up, 434; 18. Theologians and men of Sci- 
ence will come to an agreement, 435; 19. Nations 
will learn the folly of war, 436. 

Appendix: Notes and Bibliography 437 



The essence of intellectual living does not reside in 
extent of science or in perfection of expression, but in 
a constant preference for higher thoughts over lower 
thoughts. Here is the true secret of that fascination 
which belongs to intellectual pursuits, that they reveal 
to us a little more, and yet a little more, of the eternal 
order of the Universe, establishing us so firmly in what 
is known, that we acquire an unshakable confidence in 
the laws which govern what is not, and never can be, 
known. — Philip Gilbert Hamerton. 



STORY OF MY LIFE AND WORK 



Story of My Life and Work 

CHAPTER I 

HAPPY DAYS OF CHILDHOOD 
Enoch Wright, my grandfather, was born in 
Pittsfield, Massachusetts, in 1763. His parents came 
from Northampton, Massachusetts. What their name 
was I have not been able to learn, for the Wrights 
were at that time a numerous family in the Connecti- 
cut valley. 

At the close of the Revolutionary War we find 
Enoch, at the age of sixteen years, enlisted as a 
teamster in the campaign which ended in the surren- 
der of Cornwallis at Yorktown, an event which he 
was permitted to witness. His discharge from the 
service was dated on the field, and reads as follows: 

Camp York Town, Virgine: Oct. 10: 1781 
this Certifyes that Enoch Wright is Discharged the 
wagon Servis on Account of Inebility of helth & not 
having Any Teme of his own thot Best So to do 

Jos Cogswell W. M. G. 
Sd Wright hath Purchesd him Self a Hors & hath 
Liberty to take it home. 

all Isuing Comiss are Desird to furnish the Barer 
With Provitions to Connecticut. 

Why he should have gone to Connecticut is not 
3 



4 Story of My Life 

certain, but it is surmised that he was attracted 
thither by the presence of Tryphena West, whose 
family was originally from Connecticut, but was 
found not long after residing in Pittsfield. Among 
her brothers were Ichabod, and Frederick, after whom 
I was named. 

In 1783 Enoch Wright and Tryphena West were 
married, much to the displeasure of the bride's parents, 
on account of the groom's lack of worldly goods. But 
Tryphena was courageous and confident and boldly 
set out on horseback with her young husband to 
make a home near Skenesboro (now Whitehall), 
New York, at the head of Lake Champlain. Here 
he purchased from a Mr. Carver a tract of land five 
miles northeast of Whitehall village. The boundary 
line between Vermont and New York is here formed 
by East Bay, and Poultney River, which, after run- 
ning some miles to the north, bends around to the 
south and leaves a projecting point of the town of 
West Haven, Vermont, extending between the river 
and Lake Champlain, almost to Whitehall village. 
Thus Vermont was upon three sides of my early 
home, from which resulted the fact that my early 
associations were much more intimate with Vermont 
than with New York. The towns of Poultney, Fair 
Haven, West Haven, Benson, Castleton, Rutland, 
Hubbardton, and Middlebury were much more famil- 



Happy Days' of Childhood 5 

iar to me than any places in my native state, except 
Whitehall. 

Skenesboro and the immediate vicinity are con- 
nected with many of the most thrilling scenes of 
American history. For many days Skenesboro was 
the headquarters of Burgoyne's army; the battle of 
Hubbardton occurred but a few miles to the northeast ; 
and the bateaux of Burgoyne's scouting parties went 
up East Bay to Carver's Falls, two miles to the north ; 
while, only seven or eight miles to the west, after 
crossing Lake Champlain and Dresden Mountain, an 
unfrequented road led us to the Bosom on Lake 
George at the foot of Black Mountain and opposite 
Sabaday Point, and brought to our attention the many 
thrilling scenes in Colonial history when the French 
and English were struggling for the possession of that 
most important line of early communication. 

My grandfather built him a log cabin a short dis- 
tance back from the home where I was born, and 
where in my childhood's days were the decaying trees 
of the apple orchard which he had planted with his 
own hands. I well remember the heap of stones 
which marked the foundation of this cabin, and the 
spreading roots of the stump of a hollow pine tree 
concerning w T hich my grandmother often gave me a 
thrilling story of her pioneer experience. When in 
due time they had become the possessors of a flock of 



6 Story of My Life 

eight sheep, it was their custom to shut them up at 
night in this hollow stump to protect them from the 
wolves. But at last these ravenous beasts effected an 
entrance and killed the entire flock, the remnants of 
whose bodies were found scattered around in the in- 
closing forest. Painfully my grandmother collected 
the locks of wool lying around, and carded and spun 
them into yarn, and from it knit stockings for her 
children. 

My grandmother lived to be eighty-seven years old, 
and for some years I w T as her intimate companion, sit- 
ting by the fireside to keep her company while she 
regaled me with stories of her pioneer life. Children 
were born to her in rapid succession, until there were 
ten in all. But she was a thrifty housekeeper, and, 
though slight in frame, had a vigorous physical con- 
stitution. She delighted to tell me that after the first 
year, when she brought up a calf on hay tea, they 
never ceased to have fresh milk in the household. 
The unfailing spring of water to which they resorted 
in dry seasons w r as a quarter of a mile away. Not 
daring to leave her children at home alone, she would 
often bring water this distance for household use, 
with one babe in her arms and another trudging along 
with unequal steps at her side. At one time as she 
was combing her hair in the door of her cabin on a 
pleasant day, she thought she saw one of the neigh- 



Happy Days of Childhood j 

bors' cattle in the wheat field near the house, and has- 
tened to drive the creature away; but was surprised 
to see it push through the brush fence in a manner 
unlike that of a domestic animal, and on looking 
closely discovered that it was a bear. These and 
other stories told me by my grandmother relate to 
events which occurred one hundred and thirty years 
ago, and illustrate the length of time through which 
evidence of the first order may be transmitted by tra- 
dition. On visiting this region at the present time, 
all evidence of the conditions existing in the early 
years of my grandfather's settlement have disappeared ; 
but of these things I have no more doubt than I have 
of any other fact that is made known to me by hu- 
man testimony ; while I doubt not that by repeating 
them here those who read this account will believe 
them as firmly as they do any facts of history. 

Unfortunately a part of the land which my grand- 
father purchased lacked a good title. He had bought 
it originally of the New Hampshire grant, which 
was supposed to own the land to the head of the lake. 
Hence he was compelled to pay a second time for it. 
Nevertheless, his business capacity was such that he 
prospered greatly, adding farm to farm until he 
must have been in possession of nearly one thousand 
acres. The region was heavily covered with timber, 
much of it being pine. The immense stumps of these 



8 Story of My Life 

trees were so saturated with pitch that many of them 
remained in the ground for a century, while others, 
after being violently wrenched from the ground, were 
set up on edge to make fences which still endure. 
The land was cleared of the forests in the shortest 
possible way, the trees being felled and piled in heaps 
where they could be burned and the ashes saved, 
from which potash was made, — the ashes being 
leached and the liquid boiled down in huge kettles of 
well-known shape, tapering inwards from top to bot- 
tom. It is from similarity to the shape of these ket- 
tles that the numerous well-known depressions and 
lakelets in the glaciated region are named " kettle 
holes. ,, At first potash was almost the only market- 
able product that could be sent from the land. But 
as soon as even a small area was cleared immense 
crops of wheat could be procured from the virgin soil, 
and this found a ready market at Troy and Lansing- 
burgh, at the head of navigation on the Hudson 
River, about one hundred miles south. But over that 
distance it had to be hauled by teams. This necessi- 
tated the establishment of innumerable small taverns 
along the route. Some of the houses put to this pur- 
pose in that heyday of hotel life are still standing, 
but in many more instances a bed of tansy is all that 
marks their former location. Those were the days 
when it w T as not thought imprudent to take a dram, 



Happy Days of Childhood g 

and indeed when " morning bitters " were supposed 
to be a necessity. Hence the tansy bed by the side 
of every public house. In looking over my grand- 
father's papers, I find regular account of small 
amounts of rum among the articles for which his 
wheat was exchanged. 

After a few years the log house in the orchard was 
exchanged for one of more considerable pretensions, 
built just in the rear of the one which at a later date 
my father built, and in which I w T as born. This sec- 
ond house was a frame building covered with clap- 
boards which, if I remember aright, were split from 
the straight grain of pine trees and given a smooth 
surface by the shave. They were fastened with wrought 
nails. The home stood long after my remembrance 
and was a favorite place for the storage of corn and 
apples, and for the games of hide and seek which we 
children played with each other. 

Though they had been brought up under the strict 
religious influences prevailing in New England, my 
grandparents were so engrossed in their pioneer life 
that for twenty-one years they were entirely neglectful 
of their religious duties, but at this time an event of 
great significance occurred. Upon reaching his ma- 
jority their oldest son, my uncle Orin (a name of 
blessed memory to all the children of the neighbor- 



IO Story of My Life 

hood who enjoyed rambling with him in his old age 
through the forests in search of ground nuts, saxi- 
frage, and wintergreen, and along the streams and 
lakelets, where fish were caught), went back to Pitts- 
field to attend school at the ancestral home. There 
he fell under the influence of a powerful revival of 
religion conducted by the erratic Lorenzo Dow, and 
experienced a change of heart which made him ever 
afterwards a pillar of the church and a witness for 
everything that was noble and true. His first im- 
pulse upon his conversion was to set out for his home 
to give his testimony to his parents and brothers and 
sisters. He hastily walked the one hundred and 
twenty miles that separated him from them, arriving 
at night after all had retired, but his mother, recog- 
nizing his step, called, " Orin, is that you? What is 
the matter ? " He replied, "I have found the Sa- 
viour and have come home to tell you. I want the 
whole family aroused that I may tell them of my 
experience." Consequently all the children were 
aroused and gathered about the fireplace. 

The effect was instantaneous, my grandfather and 
grandmother at once acknowledged their error in so 
long neglecting their religious duties and entered 
upon a new and joyful life of Christian exper- 
ience. The influence rapidly spread throughout the 
neighborhood and it was but a short time before a 



Happy Days of Childhood 1 1 

Congregational Church was formed, of which my 
grandfather was the clerk and leading member. In 
those days the practice of infant baptism was more 
scrupulously observed in Congregational Churches 
than it is at the present time, and it is affecting to 
notice that at the communion following the organi- 
zation of the church all my grandfather's children 
were presented for baptism, though as my father told 
me the consent of the older ones was obtained. 

In a few months a meetinghouse was built about 
three miles to the southeast of our house, where it 
would accommodate a large circle of families inter- 
ested in the movement. My grandfather was chair- 
man of the building committee and kept the records 
of the society as well as of the Church. On seeing 
how carefully these were kept, one does not wonder 
at his success in business, for note was made of every- 
thing purchased and of every day's work employed. 

But shortly after, in 1808, he was seized with a 
violent fever, and cut off in the midst of his activi- 
ties, leaving my grandmother with the cares of her 
family and a large landed estate. The older children, 
however, were so well developed that she could shift 
most of the burden upon their shoulders, and this she 
did, until one by one they were all married, and seven 
of them were settled on farms adjoining the old 



12 Story of My Life 

homestead, she making her home there with my father 
until her death in 1847. 

My mother's maiden name was Mary Peabody 
Colburn. She was descended from a family that 
came to Boston about 1640, living for the most 
part in the vicinity of Lowell. Her mother was a 
Peabody, one of the numerous family of that name 
living in Salem. She was related also to the 
Spoffords, some of whom are still living in North 
Andover. But she herself was born in 1800 in 
Fredericktowri, New Brunswick, whither her father 
•md mother had gone in connection with the loyalist 
emigration at the close of the Revolutionary War, 
preferring the rule of the King to that of the new- 
born Republic. In 1808, however, they came back to 
the United States and settled in Fairhaven, Vermont, 
which was only five miles east of the Wright home- 
stead. My grandfather Colburn also had a large 
family, the oldest of whom, my uncle John, was at 
one time interested in the establishment of an iron 
foundry at the head of East Bay just below Carver's 
Falls. Some of the remains of the foundry are still 
in existence. The failure of the enterprise was due 
to a singular and very instructive geological event, 
the marks of which are still visible. 

At the time of Burgoyne's campaign and until the 



Happy Days of Childhood 13 

time of my uncle's adventure, East Bay was navigable 
up to Carver's Falls, and so could be depended upon 
as an outlet for the product of their forge. But two 
or three miles above the Falls, Poultney River was 
running in a very unstable channel, determined by 
the unequal melting of the ice of the Glacial epoch, 
which conducted the stream to a waterfall which fur- 
nished prospective power of considerable value. A 
mile or two above this w T aterfall the stream was pre- 
vented from flowing into a partially filled preglacial 
channel by a narrow embankment of gravel and sand. 
An enemy of the owner of the waterpower conceived 
the plan of taking vengeance upon him by turning 
the course of the river at that point. This he carried 
into effect one dark night, and in the morning the 
rushing water had so enlarged the breach that it was 
too late to be remedied and a permanent change in 
the channel w^as effected. " The dry falls " (near 
which for a time Horace Greeley had his home) and 
the elevated abandoned channel were left to the geol- 
ogist as permanent records of the change, while the 
manner in which it was effected is known only 
through this tradition which I desire to perpetuate. 
As my memory joins itself on to that of those who 
were contemporaneous with the event, there need be 
no doubt of the truth of the story. 

As a result of this change in the channel an im- 



14 Story of My Life 

mense amount of fresh sand and gravel was washed 
down the stream and over Carver's Falls to fill up 
the channel of East Bay and render it permanently 
unnavigable. Thus my uncle's promising plan was 
" nipped in the bud " and the remnants of the build- 
ings in a lonely and inaccessible place were all that 
remained of the venture at the time of my childhood, 
to excite the curiosity of visitors. 

Two other facts relating to this insignificant stream, 
with which I became familiar, were of great assistance 
in later years in helping me to solve difficult geological 
problems. From them I learned how w r ater can be 
made to run up hill. The headwaters of Poultney 
River were twenty or twenty-five miles southeast of 
our house. Hubbardton Creek entered East Bay, the 
continuation of the river, a short distance northwest, 
coming from the north. At one time a series of 
thunderstorms passed over the headwaters of the river, 
raising it, opposite the mouth of the creek, as much as 
forty feet above its ordinary level. At the same time 
there had been no rain in the valley of the creek. The 
water of the river, therefore, when it passed the mouth 
of the creek rushed up into it and carried upstream 
a dam which had been constructed to furnish power 
for a grist mill. As I had often ridden to this mill 
with grists of corn to be ground, the story of this 
dam's floating up stream made a deep impression on 



Happy Days of Childhood 15 

me, and, as I found many years later, helped me to 
the solution of a most difficult problem in glacial 
geology. 1 The other fact was that in going to the 
village of Whitehall one road crossed a causeway, 
which was near the level of the water at the head 
of Lake Champlain. Ordinarily this was dry, but 
when strong north winds blew for some time the 
water used to rise and cover the road so as to make 
it impassable, thus illustrating the power of the wind 
in affecting water levels, and helping one to understand 
the story in Exodus where the " strong east wind " is 
said to have opened the Red Sea for the passage of 
the Children of Israel, while a change of wind had 
overwhelmed the Egyptians who ventured to follow 
them. 2 

During the years of her girlhood, following their 
return, my mother's family lived in West Haven and 
Benson. During a portion of this time they kept a 
toll gate on a turnpike which led from that section 
of the country to the great market place at the head 
of navigation at Troy on the Hudson River. Many 
a day she was left in charge of the gate, which gave 
her opportunity not only to become familiar with the 
faces of a great number of people but also to satisfy 
her insatiable love of reading, which followed her to 
the end of her life. My mother's education, like that 



1 6 Story of My Life 

of most young women of the time, was limited to 
the three R's and fancy needlework, while in arith- 
metic she was scarcely taken beyond fractions, but 
she knew Watts* Hymns, the Bible, Young's " Night 
Thoughts/' and Pollok's " Course of Time " almost 
by heart, and had largely devoured all the choice liter- 
ature that came within her reach. She had read 
Shakespeare, " Scottish Chiefs," and Baxter's " Saint's 
Rest " while in New Brunswick before coming to the 
States. A young lady of her acquaintance, who was 
desirous of emulating her in some respects that she 
might make herself agreeable to her gentlemen friends, 
begged of her at one time to lend her for a few days 
her " Young Man's Night Thoughts," things with 
which my mother thought she was already too well 
acquainted. 

In the powerful religious revivals which swept over 
that region in the second decade of the last century, 
my mother became deeply interested, and in the year 
1818, in the company of one hundred others, joined 
the Congregational Church of Benson, a town which 
then had twice the population which it now has. 
About this time a proposal of marriage was made to 
my mother by a young minister, which it would have 
seemed natural for her to accept, but at the same time 
a plain-spoken, honest farmer, in the person of my 
father, was competing for her affections and secured 



Happy Days of Childhood 17 

the prize. Thus the train of events that led up to my 
own existence hung for a time in the most delicate 
balance. Fortunately for myself it turned in my 
favor and in due time I with four brothers and a 
sister came into the world to struggle amid its vicis- 
situdes, and to leave our footprints on the sands of 
time. 

The letter in which my father made his final pro- 
posal illustrates better than almost anything else, both 
his ow T n sterling qualities and the formalities of the 
time. 

" The winter is past and gone the spring has now 
returned which now T animates all around us and 
aw r akens in man a spirit of joy and gladness and all 
the social passions of the mind: for man is formed 
for asocial being and not for solitude capable of en- 
joying sweet intercourse with his fellowbeing ; for it 
is written two are better than one and a threefold 
cord is not quickly broken. May I not use freedom 
while conversing with one whom I trust hath the 
spirit of Christ, for I also have this consolation, that 
Christ hath formed in me the hope of glory; how 
strong the friendship when formed on right princi- 
ples: and how hardly to be broken. I need the coun- 
cil of one who can sympathize in my afflictions and 
share in my pleasures, one in whom I may ever find 
new delight. After haveing some personal acquaint- 



1 8 Story of My Life 

ance with you, I am led to believe the report I have 
so frequently heard of you. I shall hope for afriend 
in you for I trust you will find afriend in me; where 
true friendship is existing happiness will exist in 
the pleasure of afriend; the generous heart will 
not wish to make himself happy in the misery of his 
friend; but will make happiness consist not in the 
good of one but all. Shall I find you like minded. 
After careful examination and investigation of the 
subject from our first acquaintance, I am convinced 
that amore particular acquaintance would be inter- 
esting to me. Much however depends on your choice; 
and the freedom of your situation. I hope you will 
not be delicate about giving your mind on the sub- 
ject, trusting you will find a generous heart to deal 
with one, who will not be outdone in generosity. I 
will acknowledge you my equal, and, I trust your gen- 
erous heart will ask no more. I will conclude by 
refering you to the 2. Epistle of John 12th. 

"Whitehall April the 10th 

W [ALTER] WRIGHT. 

" M. C." 

It was my father's lot to settle on the old home- 
stead and to have the care of his mother until her 
death in 1847. On this account our house was the cen- 
ter for the family gatherings, which were frequent and 



Happy Days of Childhood 19 

numerous; for I was blessed with an unusual num- 
ber of cousins, all of whom were pleasant and worthy 
companions. As I have already said, five of my 
father's brothers and one of his sisters were married 
and settled upon adjoining farms. 

I was born on the 22d of January, 1838. When 
I was twelve years old there were forty-seven cousins 
in the Wright family in the neighborhood and twelve 
or fifteen upon the Colburn side. One of my father's 
sisters had married Perez Chapin, a Congregational 
minister of the old style, who settled for life in Pow- 
nal, Maine. There were five cousins in this house- 
hold. The only brother of my father w T ho had 
strayed from the fold was my uncle Ira, who was a 
physician and had been a surgeon in the war of 1812, 
but was now settled in Watertown, New York. A 
brother and two sisters of my mother had removed 
to the vicinity of Warsaw in central New York. 
The cousins in all these families periodically visited 
the old homestead and brought with them ideas from 
the outside world. We all belonged to the Puritan 
stock and our amusements were of the most innocent 
character, but a happier society than that in which 
I spent my childhood it would be difficult to imag- 
ine, and here I may say that of these seventy or more 
cousins all have had honorable and useful careers, 



20 Story of My Life 

while a number of them rose to positions of marked 
importance. 

Moses Colburn was a very learned and efficient 
clergyman for many years in South Dedham, Mas- 
sachusetts. Jarvis Adams, son of my father's young- 
est sister, was a lawyer of eminence and became 
president of the New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio 
R. R. Simeon Wright became prominent in educa- 
tional matters in Illinois, and his brother Grove a 
horticulturist, who made distinct additions to the 
world's knowledge of the processes of vegetable life, 
and was withal a poet widely recognized among the 
poets of Illinois. Albert Colburn graduated from 
West Point and was chief of McClellan's staff, at 
the time of his death in the midst of the Civil War, 
while my brothers Johnson and Eugene had long 
and successful careers as professors in two of* the 
most useful western colleges. 

It is interesting and instructive in this connection 
to call attention to other men of note who in their 
boyhood received the impress of the influences which 
permeated " the Wright neighborhood." Rev. Joseph 
Mansfield, for many years a prominent minister and 
presiding elder of the Methodist Church in the Bos- 
ton district, and Reverends Allen Clark and Henry 
Skeeles, for a long time most useful home missionaries 
in the West, were one with us during all the days 



Happy Days of Childhood 21 

of their boyhood. Honorable William Pitt Kellogg, 
military governor of Louisiana during the Civil War, 
and senator from that state, through whose effective 
stand the electors from that state were recognized in 
the presidential canvass of 1875, thus securing the 
election to the presidency of Rutherford B. Hayes, 
was the son of one of the ministers who for consid- 
erable time during my childhood occupied the pulpit 
of our church. Honorable Solomon Spink, appointed 
by President Buchanan as the first governor of the 
territory of Dakota, and whose name is perpetuated 
in " Spink " County, South Dakota, was another 
familiar companion in those halcyon days. 

The influences which led to the dispersion of this 
numerous company of relatives afford an instructive 
illustration of the powerful forces at work in shap- 
ing the course of our national history and in raising 
new and difficult problems in our social, economic, 
religious, and national life. The opening of the Erie 
Canal, and later the development of our railroad sys- 
tem, brought the markets of the East and the West 
closer together, so that products of the farms raised 
in Whitehall had no special advantage over those in 
central New York and in the region of the Great 
Lakes. Besides, it was impossible that forty-seven 
children, which was the number of the Wright cous- 
ins in and near the homestead, should get an hon- 



22 Story of My Life 

crable living from a tract of land that was only 
sufficient for seven families. Dispersion was there- 
fore an absolute necessity and everything was beck- 
oning them to the West. One after another they 
began to settle in Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illi- 
nois, Iowa, and Nebraska. This process has now 
gone on so far that only the son of one cousin ' re- 
mains in the neighborhood. But they have not been 
lost to the nation. One of my cousins has sixty de- 
scendants in Ohio and Michigan, and altogether the 
progeny of the enterprising couple who set out from 
Pittsfield for Whitehall with all their belongings on 
horseback in 1783 has increased until it numbers 
nearly 300, or 75 fold in a little over a century. If 
this increase should go on without interruption dur- 
ing the next ten centuries the blood of my grand- 
parents would mingle w r ith nearly half of the nation; 
but of course the principle of natural selection comes 
in to limit the growth of any one scion of the human 
species and it remains to be seen how well equipped 
in the struggle for existence our family is, and I am 
bound to admit that many tendencies are at work 
which will prevent their filling the land as the mathe- 
matical calculations in geometrical progression would 
show that they might do if they were unrestrained. 
To a large extent they have abandoned agriculture. 
Many of them have chosen not to marry, and the 



Happy Days of Childhood 23 

families of nearly all are less than half the size of 
that of their grandparents. 

During the period previous to 1850, in which we 
were clustered about the old homestead, life went 
on in the even tenor of its way, still with variety 
enough to make it seem like a golden age in the past. 
The life upon the farm is necessarily varied, and 
dealing as it does with living objects in both the 
animal and the vegetable world, it never can settle 
down and become mere mechanical humdrum. In 
the early spring the maple trees were to be tapped, 
the sap collected, and boiled down to that most de- 
licious of all sweets, maple sugar. Much of this was 
for home consumption, being packed away in firkins 
or in the form of syrup sealed in jugs and jars; but 
a considerable portion, especially in the early part of 
me season, was taken to market. With the market- 
ing I was often entrusted at a very early age. My 
father had, and maintained, the reputation of getting 
the earliest sugar, which is the most delicious, into 
the market. When I would appear in the village 
with a basket of small cakes of sugar obtained from 
the earliest " run " of sap there was eager rivalry to 
secure at a high price the small portions of the cov- 
eted sweet which were doled out. 

My father made some marked improvements in 



24 Story of My Life 

the manufacture of maple sugar. Formerly the sap 
was boiled down in the big potash kettles, which were 
either swung on poles over the fire or set up in an 
arch of more or less imperfect construction. By this 
process some of the sugar w x as sure to be burned on 
the upper edges of the kettle, discoloring the whole 
and giving to it an unpleasant taste. Besides, in or- 
der to keep it from boiling over when the syrup was 
approaching the desired thickness it was necessary to 
pour some kind of oil upon the surface. This was 
usually accomplished by hanging a piece of fat pork 
on such a level that whenever the foaming liquid 
reached above a certain point it would automatically 
obtain the requisite regulating film of fatty material. 
This, added to the dust and smoke which became in- 
corporated in the liquid, gave a dark color to the 
w T hole which greatly deteriorated its value. 

But my father, anticipating later inventions, made 
evaporators out of sheet iron nailed upon the bottom 
of boards turned upon edge to form the sides. This 
prevented all burning and, being carefully housed, 
protected the delicate syrup from the incorporation 
of dust and smoke. At the same time it obviated the 
necessity of mingling the fatty substance with the 
liquor to prevent the boiling over. 

Everything living has an individuality. This is 
as true of maple trees as of anything else. There 



Happy Days of Childhood 25 

were favorite monarchs of the forest which poured 
forth their liquid treasures early and late in large 
quantities and of especial sweetness. For these we 
came to have a special affection and it was a coveted 
privilege to gather the sap from the over-running 
buckets which caught the fruits of their labor. Both 
the buckets and the spouts were home-made, the 
buckets being made of cedar staves so bevelled that 
they were larger at the bottom. The buckets varied 
in size, the larger ones being assigned to our favorite 
trees. The spouts were usually made from sumac, a 
section of the stem of the proper length being sawn 
half way through on opposite sides of each end, so as to 
leave two plugs which could be whittled down to the 
size of the holes bored in the tree. Cleaning out the 
pith of the stem left a hole through w T hich the sap 
could find an exit and a channel through which to 
conduct it to a distance from the tree sufficient to 
ensure a firm foundation for the bucket which was 
to receive it. The gathering of the sap after a fine 
11 run " was most exciting business, and furnished a 
delightful recreation for numbers of my cousins 
whose parents had no sugar orchard, and w T ho reg- 
ularly visited us at this season of the year. And oh 
the delights of " sugaring off " the precious sweet, 
of " waxing " it on snow and of making it into cakes 
of fantastic shapes, filling ourselves with it mean- 



26 Story of My Life 

while to our utmost capacity! There is no sweet 
like early made, fresh, pure, maple syrup. 

But each season of the year had its appropriate 
recreations as Well as its duties. The Puritanism of 
my childhood was not depressing by any means. In 
the late spring and early summer fish abounded in 
East Bay, where they came up from Lake Cham- 
plain to spawn, being finally entrapped in the basin 
below Carver's Falls. Nothing could be more ex- 
citing than to go with the grown-up relatives, who 
often came from near and far to fish with seines for 
the lively pike and shad which filled the waters of 
this stream. Later we were taken by Uncle Orin in 
his old age to fish for perch and bullpouts in the 
ponds which sheltered them. On the way to and 
fro this good uncle told us the names of the trees 
and shrubs which we passed, and gave directions 
where to find the bloodroot and sassafras and sarsa- 
parilla and peppermint and wintergreen which grew 
in protected places. These were our first lessons in 
botany, and they were better than those we after- 
wards got in college. We learned to know every 
tree of the forest by its bark as well as by its leaf. 
As I was less robust than the other boys, this good 
uncle w v ould frequently take me up under his arm 
and carry me a long distance over the roughest 
ground. Oh happy days of childhood! 



Happy Days of Childhood 27 

In the autumn there were husking bees and apple 
parings which brought all the neighbors together and 
made work a play. It was great fun on a moonlight 
evening to compete with one another to see which 
could husk a shock of corn the quickest. As the 
apple parings were in the house they w r ere not de- 
pendent on the weather. It was fun to see the older 
boys pare the apples on their rudely constructed ma- 
chines, and the girls quarter and core them, while 
we younger ones strung the quarters on long cotton 
strings preparatory to being hung up for drying. 
And the product was far better than that produced 
by modern processes. 

In the winter there were spelling matches and skat- 
ing parties, which gave us all the variety that a boy 
or girl could well ask. With all these diversions we 
did not feel robbed of pleasure because we were not 
permitted to attend dances and circuses, and take 
promiscuous rides to various pleasure resorts of ill 
repute. 

Nor in this connection should I fail to pay a proper 
tribute to the little country church which our family 
habitually attended, and of which I early became a 
member. This was two miles and a half away, so 
that the family team was got in order every Sunday 
morning to take all but one of the family to the ser- 



28 Story of My Life 

vices, which consisted of a sermon in both the fore- 
noon and afternoon, with a Sunday School between, 
and time to eat a frugal lunch. The duty of the 
one w4io stayed at home was to guard the premises, 
watch the. bees which were likely to swarm in their 
season, and to prepare a bountiful meal for the hun- 
gry worshipers on their return in the middle of the 
afternoon. Those who failed to attend the church 
services missed a most valuable and important social 
occasion. For, at the church were gathered the best 
people for miles in every direction, who would rareb? 
meet but for this. Thus I came to know and be 
interested in all the principal families of the vicinity, 
and to know what was going on around me. This 
enlargement of my mental horizon was of incalcu- 
lable service. The ministers, as became a Congre- 
gational church of Puritan connection, were highly 
educated men, who preached over the heads of the 
children, but even so left an indelible impression on 
my mind. I distinctly remember, after more than 
sixty years, many of the sermons of those days. 

Just here I w r ant to pay my tribute to two of these 
cultivated clergymen, whose influence was deep and 
permanent upon all our lives. Rev. Mr. Herrick 
was a Yale graduate, and his wife was a sister of 
Dr. Dutton of New Haven. This family brought 
cultivating influences of the highest sort into the 



Happy Days of Childhood 29 

church and community, and, fortunately for me, 
could find no house vacant in which to live except in 
our immediate neighborhood, thus intensifying his 
influence upon our family. It is interesting to note, 
also, that on leaving our little church, Mr. Herrick 
went to Ticonderoga and became the pastor of Joseph 
Cook during the most impressionable years of his 
boyhood. Mr. Finch, who followed Mr. Herrick, 
was likewise a most scholarly and cultivated man, 
whose sermons were all carefully written and who 
never dared to speak without his manuscript, but 
even so, the impressions he left upon my mind were 
indelible. Little did either of these men know how 
vital were the seeds of truth which they planted in 
the hearts of their youthful auditors. But wie did 
not always have our regular preachers. Among 
those who occasionally filled the pulpit was Elder 
Grant, an uncle of the celebrated Joseph Cook, a man 
who had much of his nephew's genius. But he was 
illiterate, and was devoting his life to missionary 
work among the sailors who, at that time, before 
railroads, thronged Lake Champlain and its con- 
necting canal. His wit and readiness to turn any 
untoward event to a good purpose was proverbial. 
At one time he was announcing at the close of his 
discourse the subject of his sermon on the next Sun- 
day. To illustrate his point and make it emphatic he 



30 Story of My Life 

took up the pulpit Bible and said he was to prove his 
points from within the lids of that book. But unfor- 
tunately it was in a very dilapidated condition and 
the leaves fell out and were scattered far and w T ide 
by the breeze that came in at a window. He made 
no further remarks, except that he guessed it was all 
there, and with a broad smile, w T hich spread over the 
whole congregation, closed the services. It is need- 
less to say, that on the next Sabbath there was a new 
Bible on the desk. 

It not infrequently occurred that there was no 
preacher provided for a series of Sundays. But ser- 
vices were not discontinued on that account. At such 
times we had " deacons' meetings," when one of these 
officials conducted the service and had a sermon read. 
From my twelfth year and upwards I was frequently 
called on to read the sermon. So early was I intro- 
duced to the work which I afterwards chose as my 
calling. 

My mind often recurs to the scenes connected with 
my uniting w T ith the church, and the lessons it teaches 
with reference to the significance of such a transac- 
tion. I was barely twelve years old, but had been 
moved in a very quiet way to desire to make a public 
confession of Christ. I confided this to my sister on 
a long horseback ride in which I accompanied her. 
She in turn confided it to rny mother. And so it 



Happy Days of Childhood 31 

came about that I was invited to attend the afternoon 
meeting, which was preparatory to the communion. 
There I was questioned by the staid members who 
were present as to my motives in wanting to unite 
with the church, and was duly propounded for mem- 
bership. Upon the following Sabbath, as we had no 
regular minister, the Rev. Lewis Kellogg, of the Pres- 
byterian Church in the village, officiated. I stood up 
alone before him to assent to the creed of the church, 
which I had never read, and to the dismay of the 
deacons the creed could not be found. But Mr. Kel- 
logg came to their relief by saying that he would 
repeat it from memory. This he did without a 
break, and to this I assented. All that I knew was 
that it was the faith of the best people with whom I 
was acquainted, and I judged the tree by its fruits. 
The experiences of a long life have not changed the 
conviction formed upon that primitive evidence. 

In this connection I must pay my tribute to the in- 
fluence of one of the church members who was so 
much of an invalid that she never left her house, or 
indeed her room, for the many years that I remained 
at home. This was Celinda Manville, who lived 
with an unmarried brother about half way between 
the church and the village of Whitehall. Her room 
looked out on the road which we usually took in 
going to market, so that she could see every one who 



32 Story of My Life 

passed. Thus she kept herself informed of what was 
going on, and noted the growth of all the children 
of the neighborhood. Occasionally my mother took 
me in to see her. There I learned that she made it 
her business to pray for all the children of the com- 
munity by name. Who can tell but she occupied the 
most influential position of all? I may add also here, 
that the only signature of my grandmother in my 
possession is as a subscriber to a pledge that she, with 
other women who formed the original church a gen- 
eration before I was born, made that they w T ould 
spend an hour each week in private prayer for their 
neighbors and friends and those who should come 
after them. 

My education began in the country schoolhouse a 
half mile from home, where we gathered for three 
months in the summer and an equal period in the 
winter to spend the time from nine in the morning 
till four in the afternoon, taking our lunch with us. 
The games we played during the recesses and the 
noon hour were many of them rougher than they 
should have been, but served to develop my physical 
strength, which was none too- great at that stage of 
my life. The schoolroom was rude in all its furni- 
ture and conveniences. There was a stove in the 
middle, with broad desks fastened to the wall on 



Happy Days of Childhood 33 

three sides, upon which we placed our books when 
studying, or writing, and against whose serrate edges 
(for they had been deeply cut into by boys whose 
idle hands found nothing else to do) we braced our 
backs when not engaged in study. In the summer 
the school was taught by some well-known young 
lady of our family acquaintance, and in the winter 
by an equally familiar young man. With these we 
had perhaps the year before been companion pupils. 
But usually they had little difficulty in establishing 
order, and gaining our respect. The teaching was 
rudimental, but effective in giving us a knowledge 
of the three R's sufficient for all practical purposes. 

The schoolrooms were not provided with sanitary 
drinking cups, but with a tin pail, from the side of 
which we drank as .well as we could. When Mary 
White came to school with the measles I took pains 
to see which side of the pail she drank from so that 
I should not take the disease from her. But my 
effort was in vain. I caught the measles and gave 
them to the rest of the family that had not had them, 
much to their advantage in after life. 

The schools usually closed with some sort of an 
exhibition, in which both the girls and the bo} r s took 
part. My very earliest remembrance is of attending 
one of these when my sister, several years older than 



34 Story of My Life 

I, with feeling gestures and trembling voice recited 
the little poem beginning 

f< Twinkle, twinkle, little star, 
How I wonder what you are." 

My own most memorable effort in this direction 
was the part I played in a dialogue with George Jack- 
son, which involved a w^hale-fishing scene, in w T hich 
I w r as the whale and he the harpooner. We made it 
as realistic as we could. I filled my mouth with 
water from the tin pail and floundered around on 
the floor, spouting water now from one side of my 
mouth and then from the other while he endeavored 
to harpoon me with a stick which had a pin stuck in 
the end. When water failed I interrupted the scene 
by getting up and running to the tin pail to get a 
fresh supply. I need not say that we created a sen- 
sation, especially as we took both the teacher and the 
pupils by surprise. 

The school district was provided with a library, 
which had been partly purchased by subscriptions sev- 
eral years before, and w T as partly paid for by public 
funds appropriated for that purpose. It is affecting 
to read over the names of the original subscribers, 
several of whom I only knew as men who had made 
wrecks of themselves in later life, yet whose good in- 
tentions had provided me w T ith a most important 



Happy Days of Childhood 35 

means of securing a broad education. The library 

was kept at a shoemaker's house half way between 
the school and home. The number of books was 
small, but the quality was good. Before I w r as twelve 
years old I had drawm and read all the volumes 
of Rollins' "Ancient History," Stevens' " Travels in 
Egypt, Arabia and Palestine," and Fremont's report 
of his expedition to the Pacific Ocean, as well as 
some others. Stevens' Travels was read aloud to my 
mother winter mornings before light, after I had 
fed the horses in the stable, and while she was get- 
ting the breakfast. 

But, better than all, a trying calamity to my 
father w-orked greatly to my benefit. When some- 
what past middle life he suffered from an inflamma- 
tion of the eyes which, while it did not prevent his 
seeing sufficiently to attend to his general duties, did 
make it impossible for him to read w T ith any satis- 
faction. The result was that I was set the task of 
reading the papers aloud to him. The paper which 
I read most faithfully was The National Era, pub- 
lished at Washington and edited by Gamaliel Bailey. 
This paper contained full reports of the great speeches 
made in Congress by the unrivaled political leaders 
of that time, such as Daniel Webster, John C. Cal- 
houn, Henry Clay, Thomas Benton, John P. Hale, 
and others of less renown. Whittier was a contrib- 



36 Story of My Life 

utor, and, best of all, Harriet Reecher Stowe was 
contributing her masterpiece, " Uncle Tom's Cabin," 
which I then read aloud and have never dared to 
read since, lest the first flavor should be lost. The 
Emancipator, edited by Joshua Leavitt, was another 
invaluable paper which had to be read, also the 
Oberlin Evangelist, with the regular sermons of Pro- 
fessor Finney. We also took The Independent from 
the beginning of its publication. All this, with the 
Bible, which was read daily at family prayers, and 
which I read through in course more than once, fur- 
nished no small part of a liberal education. 

To supplement our district schools there were 
" select schools " taught every autumn by more ad- 
vanced teachers, who were able to carry the pupils 
farther along in their studies than could be done in 
the public schools. These were attended by the older 
boys and girls. I think I never but one season had 
the privilege of attending them. But incidentally I 
received much advantage in associating with the 
pupils and teachers, some of whom boarded at our 
house. One of these teachers, Michael R. Kelley, 
an Irishman of broad education, exerted a strong in- 
fluence on a number of the older boys and got several 
of them started on the way to college. He made 
his home at our house, and took much interest in 
helping me to understand a book on natural philoso- 



Happy Days of Childhood 9 37 

phy which fell into my hands. Mr. Kelley after- 
wards went to Illinois, where he became prominent 
in shaping the educational institutions of that State. 

My grandfather show T ed his interest in the educa- 
tion of his children by building a house in Castleton. 
Vermont, ten miles away, where his children could 
live during a portion of the year in proximity to 
an Academy w T hich was established there at an early 
date. This house ceased to be occupied by the family 
wdien his grandchildren came to need its advantages, 
but the reputation of the school drew r them there in 
large numbers. Here many of my cousins went to 
carry on their education to fit themselves for college, 
or for more immediate entrance into the duties of 
later life. The school had a wide reputation and 
was patronized by both girls and boys. But when I 
came of an age that I needed the privileges which the 
school afforded, it had been transformed into a fe- 
male seminary. So great, however, was the pressure 
from certain families to send their boys there, that a 
dormitory w T as built in close proximity to the main 
building and fifteen or twenty boys w^ere admitted to 
the school. I was among them, and there carried on 
my preparation for college. As I was too young and 
bashful to care much for the society of young ladies, 
their presence did not interfere with my progress in 
study. We had good teachers, all of whom have since 



38 Story of My Life 

filled prominent places in the educational work of the 
nation. I could not ask to have been associated with 
nobler men, or more accomplished teachers. Among 
them were the distinguished brothers, George N. and 
S. W. Boardman, graduates of Middlebury College, 
Professor Aikin, of Dartmouth, and Rollin Ballard, of 
Vermont University. 

Following the usual course, I was engaged to teach 
a district school as soon as I had got a little ahead of 
the younger children of the neighborhood. To me this 
invitation came before I was seventeen years old. The 
school was two miles from home in the district where 
William Miller had lived, who created such a com- 
motion throughout the country from 1830 to 1848 
in prophesying that the end of the world was to 
occur between those dates. He was not living at 
this time, but I boarded with his son, in the old 
homestead, and had several of his grandchildren 
among my pupils. He had died so recently, how- 
ever, that I had a distinct remembrance of his 
personal appearance. He was a dignified, serious 
looking man, who was evidently sincere in the belief 
that he had found the proper interpretation of Dan- 
iel's prophecy, and, by making a day in prophecy 
always equal a year, he was persuaded that the sec- 
ond coming of Christ and the end of the w T orld was 
to take place in 1843. It is said that as many as 



Iffippy Day., of Childhood 39 

40, cxx) persons became convinced of the correctness 
of his interpretations and prepared themselves for 
the soul-searching event. Large numbers, clothed in 
ascension robes, gathered in the little church near 
Mr. Miller's house, and in other places throughout 
New England. The largest number of all was as- 
sembled in Boston. Excitement was increased by the 
appearance in the heavens of a flaming comet, which 
was naturally supposed to be a harbinger of the ap- 
proaching catastrophe. 

But the interpretation proved to be fallacious. Mr. 
Miller, however, accepted the disappointment as be- 
came the sincere man that he was, and said that the 
Book must be true, though all men were liars, and 
settled down in the expectation that the event was 
near at hand, though no man could tell the exact, 
hour or day. Thirty years later, in 1873, while on 
a vacation tour through New Hampshire, I came 
upon an encampment of Millerites on Lake Winne- 
pesaukee, who fully believed that they had 'found the 
mistake in their leader's calculation. They believed 
that he should have reckoned from the beginning of 
Christ's ministry rather than from his birth, and so had 
made a mistake of exactly thirty years. When I re- 
membered the shock to faith in the Bible in our neigh- 
borhood in 1847, when Prophet Miller's calculations 
were proved fallacious, my heart sank within me as 



40 Story of My Life 

I looked on this great company of earnest men and 
women who were clinging to this delusion. It is to 
be hoped that they joined the large number of more 
moderate interpreters who look for the second com- 
ing some time in the near future, but are not willing 
to set any definite date. I have never ceased to be 
thankful for the influence exerted over me and the 
others who attended the little Congregational church 
in East Whitehall, by the educated ministers who re- 
strained us from unprofitable speculation concerning 
the interpretation of prophecy. 



College Days at Oberlin 41 



CHAPTER II 

COLLEGE DAYS AT OBERLIN 

The close of the first district school which I 
taught, brought me at the age of seventeen to the 
great crisis of my life, when I was to leave home to 
enter upon a collegiate education. The question where 
I was to go was easily determined. Though I had 
the greatest regard for my teachers from Middlebury, 
Burlington, and Dartmouth, who instructed me at 
Castleton, it was foreordained that I should go to 
Oberlin College, in Ohio, 700 miles from home. 
The providential influences which brought this about 
were numerous and imperative. The Institution at 
Oberlin was founded in 1833 by two remarkable men 
from our neighborhood, John J. Shipherd and Philo 
P. Stewart. Through their influence my father and 
my uncle William became interested in the enter- 
prise and contributed to its establishment. My uncle 
William, I think, gave $500 and sent one of his 
neighbor's children there to be enrolled in the first 
classes that were formed. Later two of his own chil- 
dren were sent there for a time, though neither of 
these stayed long. 



42 Story of My Life 

Several things kept up our interest in the Institu- 
tion. First, there was the anti-slavery agitation which 
had won over our families. The conversion of Uncle 
William to anti-slavery views came about in an in- 
teresting way. While he was engaged in holding a 
scythe to sharpen it on the grindstone, which his hired 
man (a Mr. Saunders, for w T hose intellectual ability 
he had little respect) was turning, a heated discus- 
sion arose between them over the rights of the Ne- 
groes, and the responsibility of the North for their 
emancipation. In this discussion the ignorant hired 
man evidently had the best of the argument. Uncle 
William wisely concluded that if such an ignoramus 
as Saunders could keep ahead of him in an argument, 
he must have the best side in the case. The result 
was the addition of a gallant champion to the anti- 
slavery cause. But my father and mother needed no 
such accident to make them take the side of the op- 
pressed. 

A second reason for our attachment to Oberlin 
w^as sympathy w T ith the religious influences which 
were prominent in giving character to the Institution. 
My father, though a man of few words, was a pro- 
found thinker on theological and philosophical sub- 
jects, and early took sides with the New School party 
in the Presbyterian and Congregational churches, led 
by Albert Barnes, Doctor N. S. S. Beman of Troy, 



College Days at Oberlin 43 

Doctor Joshua Leavitt (editor of the New York 
Evangelist), and especially by Charles G. Finney, 
whose agency was supreme in promoting religious 
revivals in central New York and elsewhere during 
the ten years previous to the establishing of Oberlin. 
The removal of Finney to Oberlin in 1835, and the 
establishing of the theological department there with 
him as its leading professor, greatly intensified the 
original interest in the institution. Therefore the 
Oberlin Evangelist with its sermons of Finney and 
other kindred matter became a regular visitor, and 
continued such as long as it was published, a period 
of nearly thirty years. As already remarked, sermons 
from the Oberlin Evangelist were frequently read on 
Sunday at the deacons' meetings at the little white 
church when there was no preacher present. 

Politically my father sympathized in general with 
the principles of the Democratic party, but in 1844 
voted for James G. Birney on the Free-soil ticker, 
and ever afterwards acted with the Free-soil party, 
in this respect following the lead of the men at Ober- 
lin, who never joined with the ultra, or Garrisonian, 
abolitionists, who refused to take part in the govern- 
ment because of its connection with slavery. My 
memory of political discussions before I was twelve 
years old is limited to two utterances made in my 
hearing concerning diverse subjects. One was by my 



44 Story of My Life 

brother Johnson to the effect that if war was declared 
on Mexico it would be the " death knell " of slavery. 
I could not have been more than six years old at that 
time. It is needless to say that I looked long for the 
fulfillment of that prophecy. Another political bit 
of wisdom illustrates how mistaken political shibbo- 
leths are wont to be. I do not know how I should 
remember it, since I was so young when it was 
made, but I do remember that one of my uncles be- 
rated Lewis Cass in my presence for asking for appro- 
priations to improve St. Clair Flats. The contempt 
that he threw into the w T ords " St. Clair Flats " was 
most impressive. When now I pass Detroit and go 
through St. Clair Flats and note that the tonnage 
passing through the canal which Cass with such fore- 
thought promoted, is many times that passing through 
the Suez Canal, this mistaken political shibboleth al- 
ways comes to mind. 

With this interest in Oberlin it was natural that 
the children should one by one go there for their 
education. So in due time, my oldest brother, John- 
son, of blessed memory, went there to graduate from 
college in 1855, and theology in 1859. My only 
sister, Marcia, graduated in 1854. I entered the 
college class of 1859, an d graduated from theology 
in 1862. My youngest brother, Walter Eugene 
Colburn, graduated in 1865. Meanwhile another 



College Days at Oberlin 45 

brother and an adopted sister were students there for 
a short time. 

It was in the spring of 1855 that I left home to 
join my class in Oberlin. Instead of the through 
trains which now run with such regularity and speed 
through the state of New York* from Boston to 
Chicago there were several separate roads, having 
no connection with one another, hence we were com- 
pelled to change cars several times. Magnificent 
steamboats, however, were running from Buffalo to 
Cleveland, which might be taken for that part of the 
distance. But on my first attempt to go by steamer, 
there w r as a collision with a sailing vessel soon after 
leaving the port at Buffalo, which came near sinking 
us. But we were able to get safely back and were 
put on board a railroad train which would take us 
to Erie, Pennsylvania, where the trains were so 
scheduled that the night had to be spent in that town, 
to the advantage of the hotel keepers. Later, when it 
was proposed to obviate this difficulty and enable 
passengers to go through Erie without change, there 
was a railroad war which attracted attention through- 
out the country. 

On reaching Oberlin my future w^as greatly in- 
fluenced by the boarding place which my brother 
had selected for me. This was with a most worthy 
and motherly widow living a mile west of the village, 



46 Story of My Life 

and had been the home of both my sister and brother 
during much of their time in Oberlin. Mrs. Delia 
Shepard, who took the place of a second mother to 
me, was sister-in-law to Lorenzo D. Shepard, an emi- 
nent lawyer, then the city attorney of New York 
City and the father of Edward Morse Shepard, who 
later became so prominent a factor in cleansing the 
politics of the Democratic party, to which he was, 
after the example of his father, devotedly attached. 
Lorenzo Shepard was a delegate to the Democratic 
convention at Cincinnati in the summer of 1855 
which nominated Buchanan for the presidency. This 
led to a short visit of his wife to her sister in Ober- 
lin, while Mr. Shepard was in attendance at the 
convention. It w r as then that my acquaintance with 
Edward M. Shepard began, an acquaintance which 
was continued later when he spent a year in Oberlin 
with his aunt, and which ripened into a lifelong friend- 
ship which had a profound influence upon both of us. 
To this I will return later. 

It was one of the admirable things in the life of 
Oberlin at this time, and I am glad to say is still so 
to a considerable extent, that the students for the 
most part boarded in homes, and not in dormitories. 
The opportunity this offered to middle-aged women, 
left to provide for the support of their families by 
making a home for students, was of great advantage 



College Days at Oberlin 47 

both to them and to the life of the place. The names 
of the numerous matrons where we boarded became 
household words, which bring up pleasantest memories 
whenever the students of that time meet in after 
years. To Mrs. Delia Shepard and her family my 
attachment was next to that which I cherish for the 
members of my own home, from whom school life 
had sundered me. 

Oberlin in 1855 was but twenty-two years old, 
but it was more mature than its years would indi- 
cate. The institution really came to its maturity in 
1835 when a large body of theological students who 
had seceded from Lane Seminary because they w r ere 
not permitted to discuss the slavery question either in 
public or in their boarding houses, came to Oberlin, 
where the freedom w^hich they desired was granted to 
them. In all there were thirty-seven of these stu- 
dents, most of w T hom were of exceptional ability. 
They had been drawn to Lane Seminary in Cincin- 
nati by the reputation of Lyman Beecher, Calvin 
Stowe, and other of the best representatives of New 
England theologians and teachers. At this time 
Henry Ward Beecher was a student there and Har- 
riet Beecher Stow r e was preparing to write " Uncle 
Tom's Cabin." When the trustees passed the obnox- 
ious rule which barred the slavery question from dis- 



48 Story of My Life 

cussion, Lyman Beecher was absent in New England, 
so that he had no voice in the matter. On his re- 
turn it was too late to remedy the error, for other 
influences of a most singular order had ,come in to 
render the move of the students irrevocable. 

A benevolent friend of the students living in 
Cumminsville, near by, opened a vacant building 
to them; and here they were gathered, for some time 
carrying on their studies by themselves, with the aid 
of John Morgan, a graduate of Williams College, 
and a crony and lifelong friend of Mark Hopkins 
and of the celebrated Field brothers. Morgan was 
a scholar of the finest type, and was resolved that 
come what might he would cast in his lot with the 
protesting students. Meanwhile, Rev. Asa Mahan, 
a Presbyterian pastor in the city and one of the trus- 
tees of Lane Seminary, took the part of the students, 
and was looking around for some way to help them. 
He was already negotiating with Arthur Tappan, 
then a prosperous merchant in New York City, 
and an ardent abolitionist, for help in the matter. 
Charles G. Finney was then preaching in New York 
City and was at the height of his influence as an 
evangelist. 

Tappan was one of his ardent supporters, and was 
on the point of sending Finney on to Cincinnati for 
a few months to give instruction to the rebellious 



College Days at Oberlin 49 

Lane students in Cumminsville, when there oc- 
curred one of those mysterious turning points in his- 
tory in which the greatest events often hang on the 
slightest of circumstances. 

Oberlin had been started by two visionary men of 
remarkable ability each in his w r ay, for the purpose 
of promoting general education of a collegiate char- 
acter which should be open to both sexes, and which 
should be combined with manual labor sufficient to 
furnish self-support to the students. The school was 
opened in 1833, and had made small progress in 1835. 
In fact the promoters were at their wits' end to find 
means for accomplishing their purposes. At this 
juncture " Father Shipherd," as he was called, started 
in the late autumn for New York City to try to col- 
lect funds. The National Road from Philadelphia 
to Alton on the Mississippi River was then built, 
and furnished the easiest way to reach the Atlantic 
coast from all the central west. So Mr. Shipherd 
went from Oberlin to Columbus to take advantage 
of this new line of communication. At Columbus 
he chanced to meet Theodore Keep, a son of one of 
the earliest friends of Oberlin, who was coming from 
Cincinnati, w^here he had been one of the seceding 
students from Lane Seminary. Keep told Mr. Ship- 
herd of the situation at Lane, and urged him to go 
down to Cincinnati and see if some arrangement 



50 Story of My Life 

might not be made for the advantage of all parties 
concerned. Though suffering from a temporary ill- 
ness, Shipherd changed his original plan, and rode 
the one hundred and fifty miles with the mail carrier 
in an open wagon, and through fathomless mud, to 
the Queen City on the banks of the Ohio, up which 
river he might later find his way to the National 
Road again at Wheeling, West Virginia. Mr. Ma- 
han at once fell in w T ith Shipherd's proposition that 
the Lane students should come up to Oberlin and 
form a theological class which should be the begin- 
ning of a theological department. And Professor 
Morgan agreed to go with them if suitable arrange- 
ments could be made for their accommodation. 

Immediately Mr. Shipherd and Mr. Mahan set 
out on an expedition to find suitable teachers and to 
secure adequate funds for the establishment of a theo- 
logical department at Oberlin. They went first up 
the Ohio River to Ripley, where they called on Rev. 
John Rankin, a distinguished abolitionist, and w T ere 
taken by him thirty miles across the country to Hills- 
boro, to see the brilliant Theodore Weld, who was 
then lecturing in that place. To him they made the 
offer of the chair of Systematic Theology at Oberlin 
as soon as funds could be raised. As Weld had been 
one of the Lane Seminary students, and was most 



Co. rlin 5 1 

highly regarded tor his great ability as a lecturer, 
and for his general intelligence and nobility of char- 
acter, it was hoped that he might accept the position, 

and be of service in raising the necessary funds for 
endowing the chair. Weld, however, replied at once 
that he did not feel himself qualified for the position, 
but said that the man they needed was Charles G. 
Finney, who was then preaching in New \ ork City, 
and he had reason to believe that Finney would listen 
favorably to such a call. It should be said that Weld 
was a convert of Finney's during the revivals which 
attended his preaching a few years before, in cen- 
tral New York. 

In accordance with this advice, Mahan and Ship- 
herd went on at once to New 1l ork and had a 
conference with Finney and his chief supporter, 
Arthur Tappan. But they were met with the con- 
dition that their proposition wouid not be considered 
unless the trustees of Oberlin College would vote 
to receive colored students on the same terms as those 
granted to whites. This, however, the Oberlin trus- 
tees had just voted not to do. Whereupon Shipherd 
wrote them a most urgent letter, assuring them that 
if they did not reverse their decision they could not 
secure the help needed, and that he should feel it his 
duty to cease his relation to the Oberlin enterprise 
which he had done so much in founding. This 



fji Life 

brought the trustees to terms and by t! _ vote 

Father Keep." the chairman, Oberlin was form- 
ally opened to colored student ilc there were 
no colored students clamoring for admittance, they 
gradually turned to Oberlin in small numbers, and 
have continued to do so up to the present time, bur 
never so as to form more than a small per cent of the 
general body. The mere fact, however, of their 
admittance created great interest in the institution 
among the anti-slavery element throughout both the 
United States and Great Britain, and drew to it 
both students of a high character and the much- 
needed funds for earning on the school. 

As a result of this tie vote by the Oberlin tru-: 
Arthur Tappan and his friends raised a fund suf- 

eight professors a salary of $600 e 
and gave outright enough to erect two buildings 
ig 5 10.000 each. Sc at Mice Finney, Mahan, 
and Morg in their work at Oberlin with the 

Lane " rebels " as the nucleus of c". rich were 

reinforced by many others of like mind. Other teach- 
ere added as soon Duld be found. A slab 

hall was built for the temporary accommodation of 
the students, and Oberlin received the impulse which 
■: it momentum to the present 
day. In consequence of giving equal educational ad- 
vantages to women and the colored race, students 



College Days at Oberlin 53 

were attracted to Oberlin from far and near, so that 
the college has been one of the most cosmopolitan in- 
stitutions in the world. 

When in 1839 Livingstone was waiting in Lon- 
don to set out on his missionary career, and his first 
quarter's salary was sent him, he forwarded it imme- 
diately to his brother Charles in Scotland and told 
him to go to Oberlin and get an education. This 
his brother did, graduating in 1845. In 1885 Miss 
Barbara I. Buchanan from South Africa presented 
herself to enter college, and on being asked how she 
was influenced to come to Oberlin, at once answered, 
" I am not a missionary's daughter, but the daughter 
of a barrister who married a cousin of Florence 
Nightingale, and I asked her where I should go 
for an education, and she sent me here." Miss 
Buchanan is now Lecturer in the Normal College 
at Johannesburg. These illustrations bring out the 
fact that what was Oberlin's extremity during the 
financial crash of 1837 really became her opportunity. 
To save the institution from collapse, the trustees 
sent two agents (Rev. John Keep and Mr. William 
Dawes) over to England to present their cause to 
the anti-slavery people there, especially to those of the 
Quaker order. From these they succeeded in raising 
enough money to secure the continuance of the school. 



54 Story of My Life 

Among the contributors were the members of the Flor- 
ence Nightingale family. 

At the time of my entering college, Oberlin was 
a seething pot of religious, social, educational, and 
political reforms whose ebullitions were kept in check 
by a remarkable body of able and level-headed pro- 
fessors and trustees. Though for the first time open- 
ing the doors of a college to women on equal terms 
with men, the authorities kept aloof from the women's 
rights movement so far as it tended to break down 
the distinction between the spheres of duties ap- 
pointed by nature to the two sexes. Several of the 
leaders of the women's rights movement, however, 
came to Oberlin for an education and were warmly 
received, and welcomed to free expression of their 
opinions. Among the most prominent of these were 
Lucy Stone and Antoinette L. Brown, of the class 
of 1847. Notwithstanding their strong anti-slavery 
position the Oberlin leaders did not join the radical 
abolitionists, who stood aloof from the government; 
but were prominent in forming the Republican party, 
and were faithful to its principles to the end. Pres- 
ident Mahan was a delegate to the Buffalo conven- 
tion which nominated Van Buren in 1848. Though 
honoring manual labor by incorporating it in their 
curriculum, they never advocated communism ; and 



College Days at Oberlin 55 

when the manual-labor provisions became impracti- 
cable they were quietly dropped. Religiously they 
were led by the most noted evangelist of the century, 
Charles G. Finney, yet he remained as pastor of the 
First Church for thirty-five years and adjusted him- 
self and his preaching to the permanent wants of 
both the students and the citizens. 

The personnel of the Oberlin faculty in 1855 was 
remarkable. President Asa Mahan, who had come 
to Oberlin with the Lane rebels at the outset, had 
retired from the presidency a short time before. He 
was succeeded by Finney, who continued to give in- 
struction in systematic theology, and to fill the church 
pulpit. But the active duties of the presidency were 
for the most part performed by other members of 
the faculty. Besides, from the beginning Finney was 
habitually absent for a considerable part of each year 
conducting revival meetings in various parts of this 
country and of Great Britain. I w T as never in any of 
his classes, as he had retired from teaching before I 
reached my theological course. But his preaching 
never failed to pierce . my heart to the very center, 
opening up its secret motives and moving me to con- 
secrate my all to the work of helping to redeem man- 
kind from its burdens of ignorance and sin. 

Finney had been a lawyer, and always aimed in 
his preaching to convince the reason so that his ap- 



56 Story of My Life 

peals could not be resisted except by wilful disobe- 
dience. Starting from the axiomatic assumption that 
the fundamental obligation of a rational being was 
to " choose the good of being," he so stated specific 
obligations, and so unveiled the deceitfulness of the 
sinful activities of the human heart, that there was no 
escape from response to his exhortations. Besides, he 
so presented the limitations under which God had 
placed himself in the creation of the human race with 
all its moral powers, including the freedom of the w T ill, 
that the doctrine of the atonement as presented in the 
Bible appeared most reasonable, and appealed to one's 
conscience with irresistible power. His equal as a 
convincing preacher I have never heard since. 

Both in his preaching and in his public prayers 
Finney was so straightforward and simple that all 
could understand him, and often so childlike that only 
his marvelous personality saved him from appearing 
ridiculous. For example, on one occasion he preached 
on the same day, forenoon and afternoon, two ser- 
mons on " Signs of a Seared Conscience." The ser- 
mon in the morning had eighty-five heads, each a 
sign, and the sermon in the afternoon eighty-seven, 
as reported in long hand by Professor Cowles in the 
Oberlin Evangelist. The sign on which he dwelt 
longest was the borrowing of tools and not returning 
them. In the sermon as reported the individual ap- 



College Days at O Berlin 57 

plications were omitted, and only the statements pre- 
served, in which the preacher showed how mean and 
wicked it is to borrow an axe or a coat and neglect 
to return it in as good order as it was when ob- 
tained. If one borrowed money he was expected to 
return the principal with interest, but when he bor- 
rowed tools he often would not return them at all, 
or when he did they were in a damaged condition. 
As reported the sermon made it seem that society 
could not hold together if there were not a reform 
in the habits of the people with reference to their 
responsibility for borrowed tools. 

The sermon as preached was adorned with many 
illustrations which were omitted in the Oberlin 
Evangelist. As reported to me by his son Norton, 
it appeared that on the Saturday previous Finney 
had engaged several workmen to prepare his garden 
for planting, but when they came on the ground and 
were ready to work, he found that his various farm- 
ing tools were not in their accustomed places. With 
some impatience Finney told them to go home and 
come again Monday. Whereupon he went into his 
study to finish the preparation of his sermon for the 
next day. In preaching it on Sunday, when he came 
to the sin of borrowing tools without returning them 
in good order, the point Was illustrated by his ex- 
perience of the day before. " Why," he said, " when 



58 Story of My Life 

I went to my tool house yesterday with the men on 
hand to do my work I found it practically empty. 
President Mahan had borrowed my plow and never 
sent it back, Professor Morgan had sent for my 
spade and I do not know w r here it is, Deacon Beecher 
has had my monkey wrench for so long a time that 
the memory of man cannot recall how long ago it 
was. What does it mean that among the best of us 
there is such carelessness concerning our fundamental 
obligations? " 

The sequel w T as interesting and significant. On 
Monday morning before daylight Finney's watchdog 
w T as making a great commotion, so that Finney called 
his son Norton to dress and go out to see what was 
the matter. This he did, and found that a neighbor 
across the way had a sawhorse belonging to Finney, 
which had been borrowed for some time and not re- 
turned. Thinking to get it back without detection 
he had come into the yard at this early hour, but be- 
fore he had deposited the borrowed object in its proper 
place the dog had seized him and prostrated him to 
the ground, w T here Norton found him. But the saw- 
horse was near by to show what w r as the occasion of 
this early irruption into the premises. From that 
time on all through the forenoon borrowed tools kept 
coming in, from every side. Some of them were 
recognized as belonging there, but many of them had 



College Days at Oberlin 59 

been so long borrowed that the holders had forgotten 
where they were from and returned them here on 
general principles to relieve their consciences of the 
burden which rested on them. 

This incident is but one of many which illustrate 
the adage that there is but a step between the sublime 
and the ridiculous. The many stories that are told 
about Finney's eccentric remarks and actions, are 
grossly misleading without one takes into considera- 
tion the personality of the man. So great was he 
and such was his personality that nothing seemed 
unnatural in the introduction into his sermon of the 
incidents above related. Nobody took offense, and 
no one who was present thought there was anything 
out of place in pointing his moral as the preacher did. 
The only evil possible to result arose from the occa- 
sional attempts of small men to imitate him in such 
matters. Such attempts invariably resulted in ridic- 
ulous fiascoes. 

At the period when I was in college the professors 
throughout the country were not mere specialists, as 
is generally the case now, but broadly educated men, 
who were able to speak with intelligence and effect 
upon almost any topic of public concern; at the same 
time their knowledge of the special subjects they were 
to teach was ample for the instruction of the raw stu- 
dents who sat at their feet. Specialization could come 



60 Story of My Life 

later, and as illustrated in any number of cases did 
come later and with the best results. F. C. Hayden 
and Major J. W. Powell, the two most prominent 
pioneers in the United States Geological Survey; 
Elisha Gray, generally recognized by electricians as 
the inventor of the telephone, and various other most 
important electrical devices; and Charles Hall, the 
inventor of the processes now exclusively used for the 
cheap production of aluminum, all were the product 
of the teaching of the days before specialists had super- 
seded all-round professors in college chairs. J. Dol- 
son Cox, also, became one of the most efficient generals 
in the Civil War, and was afterwards Governor of 
Ohio, for several terms a member of Congress, and 
finally Secretary of the Interior. He always spoke in 
praise of the education he received at his Alma Mater. 

Of the teachers at Oberlin during my years of study 
there, I would make special mention of the following, 
whose influence on me was marked. 

James H. Fairchild was peculiarly an Oberlin 
product, having been enrolled as a student in the first 
class that entered, in 1833. In due course of time he 
taught in almost every department. For some time 
he was teacher of Hebrew. He was also for five 
years tutor in Latin and Greek, then for three years 
Professor of Languages, and then for twelve years 
(covering my college course) Professor of Mathematics 



College Days at Oberlin 6] 

and Natural Philosophy'. Later in my course he was 
my teacher in Moral Philosophy and in Theology. 
Like all his pupils I felt profoundly the influence or 
his clear-cut methods of instruction in everything 
which he undertook to teach. He taught nothing 
that he was not fully prepared to teach, and there was 
not a superfluous element allowed to come in to distract 
our minds, and cloud our conception of the subject 
taught. In Moral Philosophy especially his teaching 
was clear and convincing. With President Finney he 
regarded obligation as an intuitive perception of the 
mind, and maintained that the whole law is included 
in the statement that we are under obligation to 
" choose the good of being," this phrase being all-in- 
clusive. Every being that is capable of a thrill of 
happiness, from the Creator down to the worm that 
crawls beneath our feet, is to be valued in the calcula- 
tion according to his worth. But in deciding what is 
our duty in specific acts of our wills w T e are to be 
guided both by experience and the testimony of others, 
the revelation of the Bible being foremost in giving us 
light. After being once grounded in the main fea- 
tures of this system of ethics, one can but be amazed 
at the cloudy conception of the subject which char- 
acterizes most of the systems of ethics that are now 
taught in our schools and colleges. 

Professor James Monroe had been as a young man 



02 ry of My Life 

in Connecticut a devoted and s ssful anti-slavery 
lecturer, but he came to Oberlin for his college educa- 
tion. He was my teacher in rhetoric and belles-let- 
tres. Into this department he brought the rich r 
of his early experience in presenting truths in the most 
convincing manner to the cultivated audiences he had 
been accustomed to face in New England. In voice 
and manner, and in richness of thought, he could not 
be excelled. Naturally he continued to be inter 
in the anti-slavery cause, and as the war approached 
I to the State legislature, and became one 
of the most influential members in shaping the course 
of the State in those troublous times. 

Pre<:;.e::: Finney, howeve much exercised in 

his mind over Professor Monroes entering the polit- 
ical arena, and at one time preached a most powerful 
sermon to try to dissuade him from running as can- 
didate for the State Senate. The scene was one of 
the most memorable of my exper: Oberlin. 

Professor Monroe sat in a conspicuous place in the 
church, and listened with rapt attention as the do- 
er endeavored to prove that a man of 
high moral principles who had entered the arena of 
moral reform could not run for office without lowering 
randard and compron s character. Such 

a man cannot get the votes of the people except he 
come down to their level. Monroe, he con- 



College Days at Oberlin 63 

tended, is too good a man to do this. He can't afford 
to do it. He should remain on the high pedestal of 
moral principle where he now is and strive to draw- 
all men up to it. If he gets down to the level to 
which he will have to fall if he gets the votes of the 
people, he never will rise again to his original high 
standard. " Professor Monroe," said the preacher, 
" is too good a man to run for the legislature of 
Ohio." 

Just then Professor Peck, who sat near, rose in his 
place and lifted his hand in token that he wished to 
speak. President Finney turned his great eyes tow T ard 
him, and perceiving w^hat was wanted, said, " Speak 
on, Brother Peck," and sat down while Professor Peck 
finished the sermon in trying to show T that we were 
not going to lose Professor Monroe from the ranks 
of high moral reform, but were going to have him in 
both capacities as reformer and legislator. When 
Professor Peck finished his well-chosen remarks, Fin- 
ney, with tears in his eyes, prayed that we might all 
be led aright, and dismissed the meeting. 

Professor Peck's previsions were correct. Monroe 
was elected, and never betrayed his trust. Indeed 
some have surmised that Finney, in his sermon, was 
trying to secure Monroe's election by showing that he 
was so good a man that his constituency would honor 
•themselves by voting for him, thus showing that their 



64 Story of My Life 

level was higher than was generally supposed. Later 
A Ion roe was sent for many years as consul to Rio de 
Janeiro, being there all through the Civil War and 
for some time after. On his return he was elected 
and re-elected to the National House of Representa- 
tives for five successive terms (from 1870 to 1880). 
Very appropriately he spent his last years in Oberlin 
as Professor of Political Science and Modern History. 
Professor Henry E. Peck was not so purely an 
Oberlin product. He w T as a graduate of Bowdoin 
College and of Oberlin Theological Seminary. Dur- 
ing my college course he was Professor of Mental and 
Moral Philosophy, and in the Seminary, of Sacred 
Rhetoric. His was one of the most facile and sug- 
gestive minds that I ever came in contact with. He 
too was prominent in promoting moral reforms, es- 
pecially the anti-slavery cause, and in stimulating the 
patriotism of the country during the Civil War. He 
was one of the most effective political speakers I ever 
heard. For supposed connection w T ith the actors in 
the Oberlin-Wellington Rescue Case, he was arrested 
and held in jail at Cleveland with tw^enty-seven others 
w T hile some of their number were tried for violation 
of the Fugitive Slave Law. In recognition of his in- 
terest in the Negroes, Professor Peck was appointed 
by Lincoln the first Minister Plenipotentiary to Hayti, 
where he died in 1867. 



College Days at Oberlin 65 

Doctor James Dascomb came to Oberlin on the 
opening of the school, and was the Professor of Chem- 
istry, Botany, and Physiology for forty-four years. 
He was a graduate of Dartmouth College, and of the 
medical department of that institution, then one of the 
most flourishing in the country. His teaching was not 
after the minute laboratory methods^ of the present 
time. The experiments were all ma3e by the teachei 
in presence of the pupils, and the explanations were 
sufficiently lucid to fix the facts in our minds. If we 
wished to specialize, as comparatively few did, the 
teaching we had under him was a good foundation 
from which to start. But as taught at the present 
time the pupil is so held down to minutiae that often 
he gets no comprehensive knowledge of the subject, 
unless he goes on to be a specialist. 

But Professor Dascomb's teaching was adequate for 
the purposes of a general education. He taught us to 
be accurate in all our statements and investigations, 
and to avoid all superfluity of words. If he asked us 
to define specific gravity, and we began, " It is w T here," 
we w r ere held up at once and told that specific gravity 
was not " where." If then we began, " Specific grav- 
ity is w r hen," we were told that specific gravity was 
" neither where nor when. Please tell us what it is." 
Though one of the most consistent and really devout 
members of the church, Doctor Dascomb made it a 



66 Story of My Life 

condition of his accepting the professorship that he 
should not he called on to conduct Chapel exercises. 
His investigations were so accurate and thorough that 
when his conclusions were drawn he adhered to them 
r w T ith great tenacity. Among these was that lightning 
rods were a perfect protection to a building if properly 
put up, which of course we supposed his were. But 
the lightning struck his house more than once, I be- 
lieve. Whereupon the Doctor simply remarked that 
he did not care so much for the house, but he did hate 
to have his theory proved untrue. 

George N. Allen w^as Professor both of Sacred 
Music, and of Geology and Natural History. His 
musical taste was exquisite, and his love of natural 
history ardent. He did much to direct and develop 
the great attention to music that has characterized the 
whole life at Oberlin, though it should be said that 
both President Finney and Professor Morgan were 
very fond of music and no mean critics of it. Pro- 
fessor Allen was a good violinist. But when an organ 
was installed in the First Church, about the time 
w T hen I made my first appearance in Oberlin, he found 
it difficult to get complete mastery of the pedals. He 
w T as compelled, however, to do the best he could until 
younger men were trained. It was not long till 
George Steele, Smith Penfield, and John Morgan be- 
came adepts at the organ, and electrified the audiences 



College Days at Oberlin 67 

with their daring use of all the pedals. After some 
meeting in which Professor Allen had been compelled 
to play on the organ, and, naturally, had made blun- 
ders in his use of the pedals, a member of my class 
commented adversely on it in the presence of Profes- 
sor Morgan. This aroused the Professor's wrath at 
such superficial criticism, and he said with much em- 
phasis, " I don't care if Professor Allen does not 
always get his toe on the right pedal. When he does, 
he gets better music out of it than either of those 
young men does." Mrs. Allen w T as one of the first 
ladies to receive the degree of A.B. in course, and she 
kept up her knowledge of Greek sufficiently to read a 
Greek paper, which her son, Frederick D. Allen, who 
graduated at Oberlin, but became Professor of Greek 
in Harvard University, sent her regularly, while head 
of the American School in Athens. 

Professor John Morgan was born in Cork, Ireland, 
but was brought to America in his infancy. He was a 
graduate of Williams College. His facility for learn- 
ing languages was phenomenal, and his memory re- 
markable. During my college and theological courses 
he was Professor of Old Testament Literature, and 
was successful in inspiring his pupils to a high degree. 
At that time Hebrew was more in favor with theolog- 
ical students than it seems to be in these days when 
it is made " elective " in many of the seminaries. Our 



68 Story of My Life 

class all elected Hebrew in the senior college year, and 
were drilled in the elements of that language by Pro- 
fessor Penfield, whom Professor Morgan character- 
ized as " a remarkable paradigm." Certainly we 
were thoroughly drilled in the rudiments of that 
Oriental tongue. Professor Morgan also lectured to 
his classes on the New Testament, with which he was 
equally familiar. President Finney used regularly to 
call on him to offer prayer for him in the church serv- 
ices, and sometimes to preach in his stead. His ser- 
mons were always full of thought, but rather lacking 
in the eloquence which always characterized Finney's 
logical discourses. 

This w T as brought out in one of Finney's prayers 
before the sermon when Morgan was to preach. 
f Among other things Finney asked the Lord to " help 
Brother Morgan to speak so simply that we can all 
understand him, and not have to stand on tiptoe to 
see what he means." Finney and Morgan were the 
closest of friends, and supplemented each other so 
completely that there was no jealousy between them, 
and together they made a team that it would be hard 
to duplicate. 

Professor Morgan, like Finney, w T as very fond of 
music, and they two had much to do in encouraging 
that musical culture in Oberlin that led to the forma- 
tion of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Professor 



College Days at Oberlin 69 

Morgan's son, John, being in fact, with George W. 
Steele, the principal founder of it, having before this 
attained such proficiency in his art that he was in- 
stalled as organist in Trinity Church, New York 
City. 

Nor should I fail to mention the name of Professor 
Henry Cowles, who was a graduate of Yale College, 
and came to Oberlin early in its history and filled for 
many years the chair of Old Testament Literature. 
During the latter part of his long life in Oberlin he 
devoted himself to editing the Oberlin Evangelist, a 
biweekly paper devoted to spreading abroad the re- 
ligious views advocated in the institution; and to pre- 
paring a series of Commentaries on the Old Testament, 
which added much to the reputation of the Oberlin 
faculty, and served an important purpose in promoting 
rational as well as orthodox views relative to the Old 
Testament. Especially was this true as related to 
views concerning the second coming of Christ. In the 
early history of Oberlin, Millerism had a great vogue 
throughout the country, both east and west. As al- 
ready remarked, 1843 w r as set as the year in which 
Christ was to come, according to prophecy, and 
destroy existing kingdoms, and set up his millennial 
reign. Naturally the earnest advocates of this inter- 
pretation of prophecy came to Oberlin for a hearing. 
According to the custom of the place, this was granted, 



70 Story of My Life 

but on condition that there should be a public discus- 
sion. Professor Cowles entered the lists against Rev. 
Mr. Fitch, a most exemplary, sincere, and able advo- 
cate of the startling doctrines of Millerism. In the 
strong atmosphere of religious zeal which character- 
ized the town everything was ready to sweep the 
community into the vortex of this powerful delusion. 
But it was met successfully by the calm reasoning of 
Professor Cowles in his sound contention that " day " 
did not always stand in prophecy for "'year," and so 
there was a fallacy in the reasoning of the Millerites. 
Thus Oberlin was saved from what at one time ap- 
peared to be a very threatening delusion. This dis- 
cussion by Professor Cowles prepared him for the 
success which he attained in the sane and effective 
interpretation of prophecy, set forth in his Commenta- 
ries on the Old Testament. His dignified and scholarly 
presence was a most valuable asset among the influ- 
ences at work in Oberlin during my student days. 

Professor Timothy B. Hudson was another marked 
character in the Oberlin faculty. He had come from 
Hudson College to Oberlin at the time of the Lane 
Seminary exodus, and for reasons similar to those 
which actuated that movement. He finally became 
Professor of Greek, of w T hich language he was an 
ardent student and a devoted lover. He was a man, 
also, of wide interests, being through much of his 



College Days at Oberlin 71 

time an associate editor of an agricultural paper pub- 
lished in Cleveland. From his fluency of speech he 
was known as " the silver-tongued orator. " In the 
midst of our course, however, he was killed on the 
railroad near Bcrea, where his body was found, hor- 
ribly mangled by the train that ran over him. The 
circumstances attending his death were never known. 
Naturally the event made a powerful impression 
upon our class, as w r ell as upon the community in gen- 
eral. How much this terrible event had to do in 
molding my own character, it is impossible to tell; 
but it was the more impressive because the victim 
generally exercised extreme caution in guarding against 
accidents and exhorted every one else to do so. 

Professors Charles H. Churchill and John M. Ellis 
became members of the faculty so near the close of my 
college course that their influence upon me was not so 
great as that of the others, but it was by no means in- 
considerable. Professor Churchill's varied accomplish- 
ments enabled him to touch my life in many respects. 
In addition to his scientific attainments he. was an ac- 
complished musician, and frequently led the great 
choir, of w T hich I w T as a member, in preparation for the 
annual concerts. The dignified bearing of Professor 
Ellis, coupled with his kindly interest in the students 
and his wise management as an assistant to President 



72 Story of My Life 

Fairchild in the general affairs of the college, fore-* 
shadowed his long career as college professor, which 
made it natural that he should be looked upon by the 
mass of the alumni, by a large part of the faculty, and 
by President Fairchild as the logical successor of the 
latter to the presidency. But it was ordered other- 
wise, and probably it was well that it was so, since 
he died very suddenly soon after President Fairchild's 
resignation. 

The opening of the doors of the college to Negro 
students brought to Oberlin a select number of that 
race whose presence added much to the educational 
interests of the place. Among these there was one 
John M. Langston, a mulatto of rare gifts and elo- 
quence, who used to thrill us on public occasions as 
no one else could. Later he became prominent in 
public affairs, and was for some years a member of 
Congress. 

On the whole I have no fault to find with the col- 
lege course of study which was prescribed in the middle 
of the nineteenth century. Ours was the same as that 
of all the higher class of colleges in America which 
gave the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Latin, Greek, 
and mathematics formed the staple, including, of 
course, the lessons of philosophy and politics and his- 
tory connected with the study of the classics. But due 



College Days at Oberlin 73 

attention was also paid to political economy, mental 
and moral philosophy, and a fair proportion of time 
was given to botany, physiology, chemistry, and belles- 
lettres. And as already remarked, I elected Hebrew 
during the w T hole of the senior year, taking this in 
place of more mathematics and Greek. But I have 
been handicapped all my life for the lack of three 
things which are generally provided in the curricula 
of the present time, namely, conversational French and 
German, and drawing. Photography, how T ever, has 
well supplied the lack of the latter, while it has been 
possible to pick up a reading knowledge of modern 
languages. Indeed, during the first ten years of my 
country pastorate I wrote out translations of Kant's 
" Critique of Pure Reason," and of the Bremen Lec- 
tures, exchanging translations with my brother, who 
also pursued this course to enlarge the horizon of his 
mental vision. I also w r rote out a translation from 
the Greek of several of the w T orks of Plato. But as I 
had no instruction in prose composition in Latin and 
Greek, and no practice in conversation in those lan- 
guages, when traveling in Siberia many years after- 
wards this lack w T as painfully borne home upon me, 
in efforts to converse with various persons w T hom I 
met, even in out-of-the-way places. At Minusinsk, 
three hundred miles from the railroad, the anthro- 
pologist in the celebrated museum there, wished to 



74 Story of My Life 

converse in Latin, since I made such poor work in 
modern languages. I had the same experience, also, 
with the high-school superintendent at Semipalatinsk, 
four hundred miles from the railroad. 

But from long experience and observation I am 
convinced, that my college course, by its concentration 
on fewer things, did as much for me as the wider and 
more superficial courses of study of the present time 
w T ould have done. The specializations which have 
come in my later life, have been all the more fruitful 
for the thorough groundwork laid in the prescribed 
course of my college days. 

I can truly say that I made the best of my time 
while in college. There were no exaggerated athletics 
to unduly absorb my attention. Oberlin did not al- 
low secret societies, to induce undue waste in social 
festivities. Instead, we had open literary societies, 
w 7 hich gave all the advantages for practice in debate 
and parliamentary law T that were profitable. For ex- 
ercise I did a fair amount of manual labor in sawing 
w r ood and making garden at eight cents an hour, earn- 
ing in that way thirty dollars a year. For the most 
of the time I boarded in cultivated families, where I 
mingled w T ith society in its normal condition. The 
fact that the men and the women were about equally 
represented in the class made very wholesome social 
conditions. 



College Days at Oberlin 75 

Antioch College at Yellow Springs had been 
founded as a co-educational institution a short time 
before I came to Oberlin, with Horace Mann as presi- 
dent. An English traveler who visited it, not know- 
ing that co-education of the sexes had been established 
at Oberlin for twenty years before Antioch College 
was founded, was so impressed by the good manners 
of the young men at Antioch, that he wrote that 
" changing the Biblical passage but slightly, one might 
now say that ' At Antioch, college students were first 
called gentlemen ' "; which he attributed to the influ- 
ence of the young women in the classes. At Oberlin 
in that day we certainly had a class of women whose 
influence was most wholesome on the whole body of 
students. As I was the youngest member of the class, 
and bashful at that, I was not unduly influenced by 
the temptations to waste my time in the social en- 
gagements which are thought by many to be incident 
to the plan of co-education. Indeed, the whole life 
of the class was so much like that to which I had been 
accustomed in my home, and amid the large circle of 
cousins of which I have spoken, that there seemed 
nothing abnormal in the situation. The friendships 
formed with the ladies of the class were like that I 
felt for my sister, and have continued such through 
all the years which have elapsed since those halcyon 
school days. A noble lot of women they were and a 



76 Story of My Life 

noble work they have done in the world. In large 
numbers their children and grandchildren have come 
back to their Alma Mater for education, bringing with 
them the high moral standards of their parents. 

Up to the middle of the nineteenth century, the 
college terms in most American colleges were so ar- 
ranged that the students could teach school during 
the winter, and not lose their standing. Indeed, col- 
lege Commencements were then generally at the end of 
summer rather than at the beginning, as now. In 
most country districts they were content with a three 
months' term of school in the summer, and a cor- 
responding term in the winter. The summer term 
was generally taught by a woman, and the winter 
term by a man, that being the time when the older 
scholars were free to attend. This arrangement gave 
a grand opportunity for the college men to earn some- 
thing for their self-support, and at the same time 
furnished the colleges with a most effective advertising 
agency. At any rate this was so at Oberlin. At the 
close of the fall term five or six hundred students went 
out far and wide to obtain schools for the winter as 
they could. We might not know much about peda- 
gogics but we were full of information and of zeal 
and good fellowship. 

It was usual then for the teacher to board around, 



College Days at Oberlin 77 

so that he formed a rather intimate acquaintance with 
all the families, as well as with the children. The 
advent of the young college student was an event of 
great interest to all. It was the signal for the start- 
ing of a debating society, a singing school, a writing 
school, and perhaps a reading school for the older per- 
sons in the neighborhood. It was a rare thing if one 
or tw r o pupils were not moved to follow the teacher 
back to the preparatory school that was then con- 
nected with the college. The influence thus exerted 
it is hard to overestimate. By this means the college 
was kept full of the most promising young men and 
women that the country contained. And the field 
from which they were drawn was a wide one. Not 
only did the teachers go into all parts of Ohio, but 
they swarmed over Michigan, Indiana, western Penn- 
sylvania, and western New York, and many went as 
far as Illinois and Wisconsin. General Cox always 
maintained that it was the influence of these teachers 
for a generation, which, more than any other, saved 
the Middle West to the Union, for they went every- 
where preaching the anti-slavery doctrines which gave 
victory to the Republican party and secured the elec- 
tion of Lincoln in i860. 

For the four successive years of my college course 
I was one of this great host that went out winter after 
winter to teach in the country schools of Ohio and 



78 Story of My Life 

vicinity. When regarded from the outside, many of 
the experiences through which I passed were such as 
try men's, or rather " boys' souls," for I was not yet 
eighteen years old. But as there were the courage and 
strength of will of youth to meet them, hope always 
prevailed over discouragement, and brought me 
through with enlarged vision, and increased confidence 
both in myself and in the Providence which cares for 
us in our weakness and ignorance. 

My first winter school while in college was obtained 
for me by a Negro classmate who had procured one 
for himself near by. This was done through a school 
director who was noted for his anti-slavery views, 
though the rest of the district for the most part cher- 
ished different opinions. But in the innocence of my 
heart I went to my field in the central part of the 
State, in the southwestern part of Delaware County, 
and began my work. All went well for three weeks, 
when I paid a visit to my colored friend's school and 
staid with him at his very respectable boarding place 
with a colored family. On a following day he vis- 
ited my school, and as I had spoken to his scholars, he 
was invited to speak to mine. I had no thought that 
there was anything wrong in this, especially as Mr. 
Greene was a fine-appearing, cultivated man in my 
own college class. But the fountains of the great deep 
were broken up, and my school was bedlam the next 



College Days at Oberlin 79 

Monday, and my anti-slavery patron told me that it 
was no use to try to go on. So I quit. 

They honorably paid me the portion of my wages 
that was due, and I set out to find another school. 
But I was a thousand miles from home, and not much 
used to the ways of the world. A college mate (the 
late Rev. James H. Laird), however, with whom I 
was well acquainted, was teaching a few miles away, 
and I immediately reported to him. He received me 
with a warm welcome, and had an encouraging word. 
He knew of a school near by, at Hilliards, ten miles 
west of Columbus, where they had been disappointed 
in getting a teacher, and took me over there as soon 
as possible. The way was open, and they engaged me 
on Mr. Laird's recommendation, notwithstanding my 
youth and my unfortunate experience. The school 
was to begin the next Monday, and I was to have the 
same wages as at the former place. 

My schoolhouse was of logs, but it was comfortable. 
Most of the houses where I was to board were also 
of logs, but they were filled with intelligent families 
and well-behaved children. I made my home with 
the head director, who kept the post office in a small 
store, and who was also an accredited Disciple 
preacher. With his family I spent the Sundays, and 
a more hospitable roof I was never under. The house 
was of logs, and the kitchen was separated from the 



8o Story of My Life 

living rooms by an open space which ran through the 
middle of the house from front to rear. Sometimes 
the water would freeze in the pail that sat by us as 
we ate our well-cooked meals, but we suffered no 
harm. The friendship formed with this family has 
continued to the present day. The oldest son followed 
me to Oberlin, as have his children and grandchildren 
to the third generation. One of these (Mr. Fletcher 
Dobyns) is now a lawyer of nation-wide eminence in 
Chicago, and several others, both men and women, are 
prominent in various spheres of influence. 

Here it will be best to anticipate a little and tell 
of an incident that drew me very close in my feeling 
and regard for the mother of the family especially. 
Two years later I came down to the neighborhood to 
teach, thinking that I had a school engaged. But on 
reaching the place on Saturday afternoon I found that 
there had been a misunderstanding, and that the di- 
rectors disagreed with one another so that I could not 
have the school, and must set out in quest of one, 
without any clue as to the best direction. In my 
distress I made my way over to Mr. Dobyns', ten miles 
away, and spent Monday night with this hospitable 
family. They thought of all the vacant schools they 
had heard of and laid out a route for me to follow 
on the next day. I was to walk nine miles east, and 



College Days at Obcrlin 8 1 

if that failed was to take another direction, and if 
that failed was to take the cars and look up a classmate 
who was teaching twenty miles south, and so on. En- 
couraged by their hospitality and good cheer I started 
out immediately after breakfast. But Mrs. Dobyns 
followed me, and having closed the door, said, " Here, 
take these, you may need them before you find a 
school, " meanwhile slipping three silver dollars into 
my hand. She w T as right. I did need them, and have 
blessed God and her memory from that day to this for 
her motherly love and thoughtfulness. Presently 1 
will tell of my tramping all through that week and 
finding a school fifty miles away on Saturday after- 
noon. 

My second school was obtained for me by one of 
my pupils of the winter before, and not far away. 
One thing that recommended me was that the principal 
school director w T as anxious to have a teacher who 
could take his children along in algebra, for which 
they were fitted. This winter^was most delightfully 
spent at a higher salary than I had had before, my 
home being in a cultivated family of Scotch Presby- 
terians who sang the Psalms of the old Scotch version. 
They were all good singers and had a cottage organ, 
which they used much on week days but would not 
open on the Sabbath. Like the annals of a peaceful 
age the story of this winter's experiences is short, and 



82 Story of My Life 

lacking in interest. But the remembrances of it arc 
among the brightest in my possession. My host, Mr. 
Robinson, was a warm anti-slavery man, and called 
my attention to the remarkable speeches on the slavery 
question which my Professor, Monroe, was making 
in the State legislature. So, one Saturday I went to 
Columbus and had the privilege of sitting in the sen- 
ate chamber with my beloved professor, in company 
with General Cox and President Garfield, who were 
then* the trio that was swinging Ohio into line for 
the great contest that was impending. 

The third winter was the one already referred to 
in which Mrs. Dobyns played the part of the good 
Samaritan so effectually to me. As already said, I 
tramped the whole week, following one clue after an- 
other, only to be disappointed, until the very end of 
the time. Thursday of that week was Thanksgiving, 
but in that part of the State little attention was paid 
to it. At noon that day I reached the school of a 
classmate, and my Thanksgiving dinner was such as he 
and his generous pupils shared with me from their well- 
stored baskets. The weather was brisk and cool, and 
the small streams, over which there were no bridges, 
were frozen, so that it was exhilarating to the nerve-, 
if only hope had not been so long deferred as to make 
the heart sick. At noon on Friday, I turned in to a 
fine-looking farmhouse that stood far in from the 



College Days at Obertin 83 

road, as most farmhouses did in that region, to see 
if I could get something to eat. But I had met a boy 
on horseback going out of the gate as I went in, and 
he had a bag on the saddle under him. This looked 
rather suspicious, for in my boyhood I had often been 
sent with a grist to the mill in that fashion. And, sure 
enough, when I reached the house and made my wants 
known, I was told that they were all out of bread 
and could get no more until the boy returned from the 
mill. So I was compelled to tramp on till evening. 
But then, at the very end of the week, light broke in 
on my prospects. I came to the school district at 
White Oak in Fayette County, where an Oberlin 
student, Mr. E. W. Beckwith, was just closing a 
fall term in a large district school, for the sake of ac- 
cepting another near by which he preferred. He in- 
troduced me to the directors and I was immediately 
engaged for the winter term, at a salary larger than 
I had ever before had. But the school could not be- 
gin for a week. This, however, was not disappoint- 
ing to me, as my trunk was left at Alton, near Co- 
lumbus, where I had come expecting a school. 

So I spent the week in walking back to Alton to 
find and bring my trunk. The week brought ad- 
ventures whose memory has been very fresh in my 
mind ever since, and has served to intensify my sense 
of dependence on Divine Providence whenever I have 



84 Story of My Life 

been in circumstances of perplexity. When I came 
down, the streams were frozen over so that there was 
no difficulty in crossing them. But this week brought 
a thaw which broke up the ice everywhere. In walk- 
ing across the lots to shorten the path, I came to Sugar 
Creek, which was clear of ice, and there was nothing 
to do but ford it. Rather than travel all day with 
wet clothes I removed my trousers, and crossed with- 
out difficulty, keeping my garments dry. But on 
reaching Clear Creek a more formidable task presented 
itself. It was too large and deep a stream to be forded 
when in flood stage as it then was. There were, how- 
ever, the remnants of a footbridge which had once 
existed. This consisted of two upright posts on either 
side of the stream, with a transverse beam connecting 
them at a height of several feet above the raging cur- 
rent. But the approaches to it had been carried away. 
There were, however, rail fences built out on either 
side to reach the posts, or so it seemed. So I resolved 
to make use of these approaches to effect a crossing. 

On reaching the end of the fence I found that there 
was one length missing. There was, however, a lot 
of driftwood between, which I thought was dense 
enough to hold me. So I ventured to trust to it and 
made a spring for the upright post. I was mistaken. 
The driftwood deceived me, and I plunged up to my 
arms in the icy current. But I reached the post, and 






College Days at Oberlin 85 

climbing it like a squirrel, arrived safely at the top, 
threw up my feet to let the water run out of my boots, 
and proceeded to hitch myself across to the other side. 
There I descended without difficulty, in the midst of 
a herd of friendly cows, that were lying down and 
leisurely chewing their cuds amid the dry leaves in the 
fence corners. They all obligingly vacated their 
warm beds and gathered around me in a semicircle 
and looked wistfully on to see what I would do. 
What I did was to strip myself of my clothing and 
w r ring out of the various garments all the water that 
I could and then reclothe myself and start on as briskly 
as possible to keep from being chilled. This I suc- 
ceeded fairly well in doing and in due time reached 
the boarding place of an Oberlin teacher whom I well 
knew. Here I was properly cared for over night and 
made ready to resume my tramp in the morning. 

In due time I found my trunk and took an evening 
train for London, Madison County, from which a good 
pike led south, passing about five miles from my 
school. But how to get the trunk carried that dis- 
tance w T as a problem, for the three dollars which Mrs. 
Dobyns had given me was nearly exhausted. Nothing 
daunted, however, I went to the principal hotel, where 
their rates were moderate, and took a room for the 
night. I w r as given a bed beside one already occupied 
by two full-grown men, and was told that another 



86 Story of My Life 

man would be assigned after a short time to the bed 
with me. Before this happened, however, I had fallen 
asleep, so that I knew nothing of my bedfellow until 
morning. Then I found that he was a prominent 
member of the United Brethren Church and a trustee 
of Otterbein University at Westerville. (I am sorry 
to have forgotten his name.) He told me that he 
had driven up from the south to bring some of his 
family to take the train, and was to return early in the 
day, and w r ould be glad to carry me and my luggage 
along to the point where I would leave the pike. This 
relieved all my anxiety, and I was landed at " Hen 
Peck," the nearest settlement to my school. 

The mud was so deep that it was impossible to get 
a team across, and so I took out a few necessary clothes 
from my trunk, did them up in a large silk handker- 
chief and trudged across lots to my boarding place. 
Open highways were scarce in that region, their place 
being largely taken by private roads, leading through 
gateways which had to be carefully opened and shut by 
each traveler. This, of course, was no trouble to one 
who was walking. But when, several weeks after, for 
it w r as impossible to go earlier, I went for my trunk 
on horseback, I experienced much trouble in getting 
through some of these gateways. All the fences were 
of rails and very high to keep horses from jumping 
them. As my trunk was balanced on the pommel of 



College Days at Oberlin '87 

my saddle before me, I found it difficult to open and 
shut the large gates without getting off my horse, 
which I did not like to do as it was a difficult oper- 
ation to keep the trunk in place while getting off and 
on. So for the most part I opened the gates according 
to custom without dismounting. At one gate, how- 
ever, my trunk fell to the ground, forcing on me a 
task that was difficult to manage. To get it on again 
and be myself in the saddle was no easy matter. What 
I did was to first lift the trunk to the top of the 
fence, and then, mounting the saddle, try to pull it 
off so that it would strike the pommel before me and 
not scare the horse. After several trials I succeeded, 
and went joyfully on my way. 

The school at White Oak was large, numbering 
more than eighty scholars, ranging in age from four 
to twenty years. But I succeeded in giving satisfac- 
tion, and at the same time made the winter more 
profitable to myself from the fact that I had a single 
boarding place, and so could continue my studies better 
than when boarding around. An event of much 
significance to me in shaping the work of my after 
life was, that by a singular combination of circum- 
stances I here preached my first sermon. There was 
no church in the place or for several miles around. 
But about the middle of the winter a Methodist 
Protestant minister announced that he would hold a 



88 Story of My Life 

protracted meeting in the schoolhouse. At the ap- 
pointed time he arrived, and came to my boarding 
place. But unfortunately he was taken temporarily ill 
so that it was impossible for him to attend the meeting. 
Under these conditions, he said the only thing to be 
done was for me to go and take charge of it. The 
schoolhouse was full, but there was no one but myself 
there to conduct any religious services. So I ventured 
to go ahead and do the best I could, and preached a 
sermon from Acts iii. 19, " Repent ye therefore, and 
be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when 
the times of refreshing shall come from the presence 
of the Lord." In the sermon I tried to impress it 
upon them that they were not to wait for a revival 
to be converted, but that they were to produce a 
" time of refreshing " by turning to the Lord and 
seeking the forgiveness of their sins. On the follow- 
ing day the minister w T as better, and afterwards con- 
ducted the meetings, relying constantly on me for sup- 
port. The results were more than any one had anti- 
cipated. There was a large number who confessed 
conversion and a church w 7 as formed and soon after 
a meetinghouse erected, making it a permanent center 
of Christian influence. 

My fourth winter was spent in teaching a school 
near Martins Ferry, in the southeastern part of the 
State, opposite Wheeling, Virginia. The conditions 



College Days at Oberlin 89 

here were peculiarly pleasant. An older college mate 
had taught the school for three or four seasons, and 
recommended me as his successor. It was a country 
school in a district largely composed of Scotch Presby- 
terians, and I boarded in one place. It w T as of much 
significance also that I w T as now in the midst of the 
coal measures, where a new geological horizon opened 
up before me, just as I w T as in the midst of studying 
geology in college. Of the interest aroused in my 
mind by these telltale remnants of the distant past I 
have often been reminded when in later years I have 
met the men who were boys then and scoured the fields 
with me on Saturday afternoons to gather fossils. 

THE ANTI-SLAVERY CONFLICT 

To the friends of righteousness and justice in the 
United States the fifth decade of the nineteenth cen- 
tury was one of deep anxiety and gloom. Slavery 
was fastened upon the nation with a tightening grasp 
which foreboded evils to come from which the boldest 
heart shrank in terror. The Fugitive Slave Law made 
it a crime to help a panting fugitive who should call 
on you while escaping from the cruel bondage of a 
system that violated every human right and privilege 
of humanity. About the middle of my college course 
the opening up of the territory of Kansas to settle- 
ment, and the granting by Congress of the right of 



90 Story of My Life 

the settlers to determine whether it should be slave or 
free territory, convulsed the nation. It was a strife 
to see w T hether the Northern States could rush in set- 
tlers enough to outvote those from the South who 
favored making it a slave state. At one time Charles 
Finney, a son of President Finney, came home from 
a visit to Kansas and presented the situation in such 
a strong light that almost the whole sophomore class 
enlisted to arm themselves and go to Kansas to help 
the Free-state party repel the ruffians from the South- 
ern States who were trying to dominate the policy of 
the territory and make of it a slave-holding state. It 
was only by the most strenuous efforts of the professors 
that the class was dissuaded from this rash under- 
taking. 

The Oberlin-Wellington Rescue Case occurred in 
the autumn of 1858, and with its sequelae was one 
of the most portentous presages of the Civil War, 
which followed three years later, while its influence 
on the student body at Oberlin was profound in the 
extreme. The circumstances were these. A negro 
boy named John appeared in Oberlin and remained for 
some time before anything was known of his origin 
or history. In the early autumn of 1858 tw T o sus- 
picious characters came to the town and put up at a 
hotel which was kept by a rabid pro-slavery landlord, * 
and lingered around for several days without any ap- 



College Days at Ob e din 9 1 

parent object. But this was soon revealed in a 
startling manner. A lad from out of town came in 
one day and persuaded John to go with him a mile 
or two to the east, ostensibly to dig potatoes. But 
when half way to the place the two strangers re- 
ferred to drove up, by arrangement, beside the buggy 
and took John by main force into the carriage with 
them and straightway started toward the nearest rail- 
road station leading toward Kentucky, which was 
Wellington, nine miles south of Oberlin. By good 
fortune, a citizen of Oberlin met them on the way 
and suspected what they were doing. He hastened 
home and the news spread like wildfire throughout 
the town that John Was being kidnapped and carried 
off to slavery. There was an immediate rush to get 
teams to take the indignant citizens to Wellington in 
time to intercept the party before the train should ar- 
rive. I was among those that found a place in a 
team that started for the scene; but a taller and 
stronger classmate intercepted us and persuaded me 
that he could be of more service than I could be, and 
so I gave him my place, and thus missed the scenes 
which took place at Wellington. It was perhaps well, 
since my substitute was J. L. Patton, one of the most 
prominent actors in the actual rescue of the prisoner. 
Suffice it to say that John was rescued, and brought 
back to Oberlin, where he disappeared from sight, hav- 



92 Story of My Life 

ing been secreted, as we learned later, in the garret of 
Professor James Fairchild, until he could be spirited 
off to Canada. 

The sequelae were that United States marshals came 
to Oberlin and arrested for violation of the Fugitive 
Slave Law, twenty-nine citizens and students, who were 
in due time taken to Cleveland, and on their refusal to 
give bail, incarcerated in the city jail until trial, and 
while the trial continued. Among those arrested were 
Professor H. E. Peck and several of my classmates. 
The principal evidence against Professor Peck was 
that he had been heard to pray in public " that justice 
might be done in this matter." He had not been 
present at the rescue. But as he was a man of prop- 
erty he was a conspicuous victim. In due time the 
trial proceeded, but slowly. The ablest lawyers of 
Cleveland volunteered their services for the defense of 
the prisoners. The law, however, was clear, and the 
first two who came to trial (Langston and Bushnell) 
were convicted. But, before proceeding to the other 
cases, the trial was stopped for a week to await the 
result of an attempt to enforce a writ of habeas corpus 
issued by State officials demanding that the prisoners 
be removed from the jurisdiction of the United States 
court and turned over to the State court. This case 
was immediately taken up to the Supreme Court of 



College Days at Oberl'in 93 

the State at Columbus and argued before them for a 
week. 

While this was going on, a great mass meeting was 
held in Cleveland before the walls of the jail, and 
speeches of the most incendiary character were made 
by various prominent friends of the prisoners. At the 
same time a platform was erected inside the prison, 
so that some of the prisoners could address the crowd 
from the prfson walls. Among those making addresses 
from the outside were Joshua R. Giddings, and Sen- 
ator Benjamin Wade, both abolitionists, who urged 
active opposition to the enforcement of the law. But 
most significant of all was the address of Salmon P. 
Chase, then governor of the State. Referring to the 
writ of habeas corpus then being argued at Columbus, 
he assured the people that if it was sustained by the 
court, he would use all the power of the State to 
execute it. 

Thus, only two and a half years before South Car- 
olina set itself up in opposition to the general govern- 
ment, Ohio was on the point of bringing on the contest 
for states' rights, and plunging the country into a 
civil war with the advantages all in favor of the slave- 
holding states. But Providence interposed and pre- 
vented such a miscarriage. The court at Columbus 
consisted of five able judges, who, after considering 
all the arguments, w T ere equally divided, two voting 



94 Story of My Life 

to sustain the writ, and two against; so that Chief 
Justice Swan had to give the casting vote. He had 
been long in the service of the State, as judge in the 
inferior courts and now for four years on the supreme 
bench, and was well know r n as an ardent anti-slaverv 
advocate, so that the radical party fully expected that 
he would sustain the writ. Moreover, his term was 
about to expire, and the convention that was to nom- 
inate his successor was to convene in a few r days, and 
such was the complexion of this convention that his 
nomination would be impossible if he did not sustain 
the writ. This, however, he failed to do, and in an 
opinion that ranks among the most memorable ever 
given by a United States judge, rejected the writ, in 
this, disappointing the radical abolitionists, but saving 
the country 7 from a premature civil war, with all the 
odds against the free states. 

The closing words of his opinion are worthy of 
permanent record : "As a citizen I would not delib- 
erately violate the Constitution or the law by inter- 
ference with fugitives from service. But if a weary, 
frightened slave should appeal to me to protect him 
from his pursuers, I might momentarily forget my 
allegiance to the law and the Constitution and give 
him a covert from those who were on his track. There 
are, no doubt, many slave-holders who w T ould thus 
follow the instincts of human sympathy. And if I 



College Days at Oberlin 95 

did it, and was prosecuted, condemned, and imprisoned, 
and brought by my counsel before this tribunal on a 
habeas corpus, and was then permitted to pronounce 
judgment on my own case, I trust I should have the 
moral courage to say before God and my country, as 
I am now T compelled to say, that under the solemn 
duties of a Judge, bound by the Constitution and the 
law ' the prisoner must be remanded! fi The para- 
graph immediately preceding this, ran as follows: 

" For myself as a member of the Court, I disclaim 
the judicial power of disturbing the settled construc- 
tion of the Constitution of the United States as to the 
legislative authority of Congress upon this subject, 
and I must refuse the experiment of introducing dis- 
order and governmental collision." It is a shame to 
the state of Ohio that Judge Swan was not only not 
renominated at the convention which met soon after 
this decision; but that he was retired thereafter to 
private life, and the great service which he rendered 
the commonwealth, the nation, and the world, has 
never been properly recognized. 

The end of the trial of the rescuers who were still 
in the Cleveland jail came soon in an unexpected way 
which sheds much light on the relation of the states 
to the general government. During the recess oc- 
casioned by the habeas corpus episode, the Kentucky 
slave catchers, who were needed to give witness in the 



96 Story of My Life 

cases, took occasion to go to their homes for the time 
that the court at Cleveland was not in session. When, 
however, on their return, they were passing through 
Wellington on the train, they were arrested by Lo- 
rain-county officials on charge of having violated a 
state law against kidnapping, for it was contended 
that they had not given evidence that John was a slave 
from Kentucky. Consequently they were incarcerated 
in the county jail at Elyria to await trial before a 
Lorain-county jury, for a most heinous offense. This 
brought them to terms, and they agreed that if they 
were let off further action against the Wellington 
rescuers would be discontinued. And so ended, for 
the time, the trial. But it had stirred the country 
to the depths, and had done much to prepare the pub- 
lic sentiment both of the North and of the South for 
the crisis that broke upon the world in 1861. 

THE CIVIL WAR 

After graduating from college in 1859, I began 
the theological course. But in 1861 there came the 
Civil War, and on April 15 the call of President 
Lincoln for 75,000 volunteers for a term of three 
months to put down the rebellion that had been started 
by South Carolina. Naturally this call came with 
peculiar force to the students of Oberlin. A mass 
meeting was called in the First Church, which was 



College Days at Oberlin 97 

addressed by Professor Monroe, who came up from 
the legislature to urge on us the duty of showing our 
faith by our works. We at Oberlin had talked so 
much against slavery that it was now time for us to 
act and set an example to the rest of the nation. In 
fact, as it was said, " We must now put up or shut 
up." The roll for volunteers was opened on the spot, 
and I was among the first to sign my name. Professor 
Fairchild did not give us much encouragement, since 
he thought the South would be successful in setting up 
a rival government. But, he said, we must fight in 
order to obtain favorable terms of adjustment. 

In a few days two full companies were formed and 
ready to offer themselves to the government. Only 
one of them, however, could be accepted. I was in 
the one which entered the service. The company con- 
sisted of students from all the classes, eight or ten 
being from the Theological Seminary, of which I was 
a member. The captain was G. W. Shurtleff, my 
roommate, who left the war a Brigadier General. 
The first lieutenant was J. N. Cross (severely wounded 
at Cross Lanes), the second lieutenant, E. H. Baker, 
from the class ahead of me. The w T hole town was 
active in making uniforms for us until we went into 
Camp Taylor, which we soon did at Cleveland, where 
we were made members of the Seventh Regiment of 
Ohio Volunteers. In due time we w T ere ordered to 



98 

report at Camp Dennison in the southern part of the 
State. It was a memorable scene when we marched 
through the streets of Cleveland, with the accom- 
paniments of music and banners, to the railroad train 
that was to convey us to our new quarters. The tears 
of our friends and loved ones were strangely mingled 
with the encouraging hurrahs of the crowd, who were 
moved by nothing but their patriotic feelings. We 
reached Camp Dennison in a soaking rain which had 
transformed our grounds into a mudhole, only to find 
that our barracks were only partially erected, and that 
half blank ? with which to protect 

ourselves froir. rather. In fact it ap- 

peared that we had been hurried into camp in order 
to circumvent a crs ractor who was defrauding 

the government by his y and dishonest work. 

But we all made the best of the situation, some of us 
even courting hardships in order to show ours: 
good soldiers. Even-thing was in confusion and dis- 
order for some time. 

I: was not long, under these conditions, before a 
- came in : . : I was not of a r 

constitution to begin with, and •had contracted a severe 
cold immediately on arriving in the camp. But noth- 
ing daunted I did not object to being put out on 
picket duty one night about nine o'clock to guard the 
headquarters of General Cox. who had been appointed 



College Days (it Oberlin 99 

to command the brigade. This was before we had 
been provided with arms, and I had nothing but a 
stick burnt black at one end with which to shoot, as 
I was commanded, anyone who could not give the 
password, and refused to halt at my order. Un- 
fortunately I was forgotten by the sergeants that 
should have brought me relief in proper time, ^and was 
left on my beat all night, not being relieved till nine 
the next morning. The exposure was too much for 
my reduced system, and before noon I was prostrated 
with a severe pneumonia, accompanied with racking 
pleuritic pains. As no hospital had been provided I 
was taken by my comrades into a large barn standing 
near and laid on a haymow to spend the afternoon and 
night. Mr. Austin, who afterwards became a success- 
ful physician, and was even then a noted nurse, de- 
voted himself to me and did all that could be done to 
make me comfortable under the circumstances. On 
the next day an adjoining shed was cleared and trans- 
formed into a temporary hospital, and a large number 
of cots brought up from Cincinnati with accompanying 
bedding. Against the rules and in violation of the 
red tape, Mr. Austin broke open a box and got me 
on a cot the first one. But before night there were 
more than fifty brought into the shed in much the 
same condition as that I was in. The first night the 
patient who lay on the cot next me died. My fever 



ioo Story of My L. 

was hicrh, and my life was despaired of. In a short 
time, however, I was convalescent and taken into a 
private family in Cincinnati to stay until able to go 
back to Oberlin on a sick-leave furlough. This was 
as far as I ever got toward actual warfare. But it 
was far enough to prepare me to take an interest in 
the contest such as to make a permanent influence on 
my whole subsequent views of life and of religious, 
social, and political duties. 

While I was in the hospital the order was given for 
the re-enlistment for three years of such members of 
the company as were willing to do so. I gave my 
name for re-enlistment, but when the time arrived my 
health was not sufficiently recovered for me to be ac- 
cepted, and in fact it was not till the war was nearly 
over that I was again physically fit for military serv- 
ice. But harder to bear than the hazards of the battle 
field itself was the anxious waiting to hear the news 
from the front in which so many of my comrades 
were exposing their lives for the common weal. The 
Company to which I belonged began its career in the 
field in West Virginia, where after arduous and try- 
ing marching and counter-marching they were sur- 
rounded on the 24th of August. 1861, at Cross Lanes, 
near Gauley Bridge, by an overwhelming force of 
Confederates, and a disastrous engagement followed. 
Six were left seriously wounded on the field, two of 



College Days at Obcrlin ioi 

whom (Collins and Jeakins) died, while the other 
four were maimed for life. Twenty-nine were cap- 
tured, and languished in Southern prisons for a year 
or more, two of them ( Parmenter and Biggs) dying 
in Xew Orleans. The rest, after untold hardships 
in making their way through the trackless forest sur- 
rounding them in a mountainous region, reached the 
main army, under General Cox, and resumed their 
military duties. Other recruits joined them, and the 
regiment was transferred to the eastern side of the 
mountains, and entered on a long career of most try- 
ing campaigns. Through two long winters they 
camped and did picket duty amid mountains deeply 
covered with snow, alternately advancing and retreat- 
ing in endeavors to defeat the plans of the enemy under 
Stonewall Jackson. During it all they maintained 
their regular religious services. Professor Ellis visit- 
ing them in their camp near Romney in the middle of 
the winter wrote as follows of their courage and de- 
votion : " When their ranks had been thinned by 
capture and death, and they had passed through all 
the corrupting tendencies and temptations of their new 
life for nearly a year, I saw them in their tents in the 
heart of Virginia, and nightly from the six tents went 
up the voice of song and prayer as they bowed before 
their family altars." 

At the battle of Winchester, March 22, 1862, Dan- 



102 Story of My Life 

forth, Sackett, Palmer, Coburn, Worcester, and Cyrus 
W. Hamilton were killed and six others seriously 
wounded. At the battle of Port Republic, June 9, 
Romaine, J. Kingsbury, Hamilton, Judson, Gates, and 
Magary, were either killed or mortally wounded. At 
the battle of Cedar Mountain, August 8, Ross, Bowler, 
Evers, Shepard, Rappleye, and Richmond were killed 
and seven others were wounded. Seventy-five per 
cent of all the members of the regiment were either 
killed or wounded on that fatal day. Later they were 
at the battles of Antietam, Chancellorsville, and Get- 
tysburg, when they were transferred to join the army 
of the Tennessee. Here the regiment took part in 
the battles of Lookout Mountain and Mission Ridge, 
and then were rushed on to the most disastrous day 
of all, the battle of Ringgold, which General Grant, in 
his " Memoirs," passes over with the simple remark 
that " it was a mistake." They were ordered to 
charge an impregnable position on Taylor's Ridge. 
There was nothing for them to do but obey, so on 
they pressed through a narrow defile amid the roar of 
" cannon to right of them, cannon to left of them, and 
cannon in front of them." Every commissioned of- 
ficer of the regiment but one was killed. " Of the 
twenty men in Co. C, who entered the action, six 
[Jones, Fish, Wall, Wood, King, and Sweet] were 
killed and eight, wounded," one of whom (Gardner) 



College Days (it Oberlin 103 

died on the next day. The touching summary reads, 
" The Company marched 2,400 miles, and traveled 
by rail and steamers 4,800 miles. It encamped 194 
times. Thirty-one men lost their lives by battle, seven 
by disease, and one was drowned." 

But this is only a specimen of what occurred to 
thousands of other companies from all over the land. 
A still larger number of Oberlin students than those 
in Co. C joined other regiments and suffered fatalities 
in equal proportions. General Shurtleff organized the 
first Negro regiment that went from Ohio. This was 
in the slaughter pen at Petersburg, Virginia, when an 
advance was ordered into a gap in the fortress in which 
a mine had been exploded. But the order came too 
late, and the enemy had time to rally and concentrate 
artillery fire upon them; when, as the General told 
me, more of his men were killed in ten minutes than 
were killed in the whole Spanish war in 1898. Alto- 
gether 3,000,000 men enlisted in the war, 350,000 
of whom never returned. Two cases from the parish 
in Vermont which I was serving during the last years 
of the war, specially impressed me, and they were but 
specimens that could be duplicated in almost every 
hamlet of the land. One was that of a prisoner taken 
to Andersonville whose emaciated form was last seen 
as he was trying to escape from the horrors of that 
charnel house. The other was that of a half-witted 



104 Story of My Life 

boy who was forcibly carried off to the war just be- 
fore the battles of the Wilderness. In them he dis- 
appeared, and never could w T e learn the circumstances 
of his death. No one can pass through such experi- 
ences and not be a changed man. Since then life ha^ 
never looked the same to me. 

The experiences of the last winter vacation while 
in the Seminary are worthy of note in shaping my 
career. My most intimate companion during the last 
years of my course of study was Henry S. Bennett, of 
Brownsville, Pennsylvania, later for many years pro- 
fessor in Fisk University. His parents were Quakers 
of considerable prominence in the place, but he early 
became a member of a Cumberland Presbyterian 
church in his native town. More than once I visited 
him at his home in the picturesque and thriving valley 
of the Monongahela River. In the winter of 1861-62 
he went to spend the vacation w T ith his parents. The 
church to w T hich he belonged was in a very depressed 
condition, so that the pastor had resigned and was 
teaching school in a neighboring district. In the 
emergency my friend began to supply the pulpit, and 
soon there was manifest a marked increase of interest. 
The work which was opening being more than he felt 
prepared to undertake alone, he sent for me to come 
to his assistance, as he knew r that I had not thought it 



College Days at Obcrlin 105 

best to undertake full work anywhere on account of 
my health. Very soon the interest so deepened that 
meetings were held every evening with preaching alter- 
nately by him and myself. We were spoken of as 
the " boy preachers." But we made no effort at sen- 
sation, simply presenting the gospel as we understood 
it and the church believed it. The results were re- 
markable. There w T ere more than a hundred substan- 
tial additions to the church, putting it into a condition 
which has made it a power ever since. This experience 
gave a turn to the preaching of both of us during our 
later years. But the conditions were never repeated, 
and w T e had to adjust our efforts to the needs of the 
several fields w T hich opened before us. What these 
were in my own case will presently appear. 



io6 Story of My Life 



CHAPTER III 
TEN YEARS IN A COUNTRY PARISH 

The choice of a field of labor at the close of my 
theological course was made from such a variety of 
motives that it is difficult for me to understand what 
they were and what were the predominating ones. In 
making it, Providence took advantage of my ignor- 
ance both of the world into which I was to be ushered, 
and of my own capacities. Realizing this, and seeing 
the outcome, I have been slow to give advice to young 
men about their choice of fields of labor. Several 
years later, Hastings H. Hart, when about to gradu- 
ate from Andover Seminary, asked my advice about 
accepting one out of several openings that were before 
him, and all that I could say was that he should think 
the matter through as well as he could, and pray over 
it, and then shut his eyes and take a leap in the dark, 
and that he would not know till well along in eternity 
how fortunate a choice he had made. But in his case 
he did not have to wait so long as I expected. He 
decided to go to a small church in southwestern Min- 
nesota. There I found him two or three years later, 
just after a terrific tornado had desolated the region 
and opened to him the career for which he was spe- 



Ten Years in a Country Parish 107 

cially fitted. He plunged into the relief work with 
such zeal and success that he became a marked man, 
and was soon called to take charge of general relief 
work throughout the State, and later was promoted 
to a prominence which has made him a leader in guid- 
ing the work of the National Conference of Charities 
and Correction. He is now at the head of the Child 
Helping Department of the Russell Sage Foundation 
in New York City. 

Several churches were ready to call me when I 
graduated in 1862. For some reason or other, I 
scarcely know what, I chose the field which offered 
the smallest salary and about which I knew the least. 
This was in Bakersfield, near St. Albans, in the north- 
western part of Vermont. 

Before going, I married Huldah Maria Day, who 
for almost forty years afforded me just the companion- 
ship and sympathetic support I needed in my work. 
She was the daughter of Judge William Day of Shef- 
field, Ohio, and had been educated not in Oberlin but 
at the girls' school at Willoughby, taught by Miss 
Roxana Tenney, a very eminent teacher of the time. 
Upon the burning of the building at Willoughby the 
parties interested in the school founded Lake Erie Sem- 
inary, now Lake Erie College, at Painesville, and the 
Willoughby graduates were counted as alumnae of that 
institution. Four children were born to us — two in 



Io8 Story of My Life 

Vermont, Mary Augusta, now the wife of Dr. A. A. 
Berle of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Etta Maria, 
ever my faithful assistant in literary work; two in 
Andover, namely, Frederick Bennett, for twelve years 
editor of Records of the Past in Washington, District 
of Columbia, and Helen Marcia, who has devoted 
herself to settlement work. All these graduated from 
Oberlin College. Mrs. Wright died in July, 1899. 

Immediately after our marriage we set out into the 
great unknown. But President Lincoln had just or- 
dered a draft of 500,000 soldiers to fill the depleted 
and hard-pushed ranks of the Union army, and I was 
held up in Cleveland until I could secure some one 
to sign a bond of $1,000 that I would come back 
to the State and enter the army if the lot should fall 
on me. This having been procured without difficulty, 
I proceeded on my way, and in due time reached what 
was to be my field of labor for the next ten years. 

Bakersfield was a small village at the foot of the 
Green Mountains, fifteen miles from the railroad. 
It was surrounded by a large, sparsely settled farming 
region, with much woodland which could not be cul- 
tivated. The village was very pleasantly situated, and 
had been the seat of one of the most flourishing 
academies of the State. Indeed, there were two 
academies, which had ruined each other by their fierce 
competition. One of these was favored by the Con- 



Ten Years in a Country Parish 109 

gregational constituency and the other by the Metho- 
dist. The one adjoining my own church had become 
famous the country over under the administration of 
Mr. Jacob Spaulding, and had sent out a number of 
students who had made great names for themselves. 
But Mr. Spaulding had been drawn away to another 
town (Barre) in the State, and after the competition 
subsided, both academies were practically suspended. 
Still the village was divided into jealous cliques, oc- 
cupying the different ends of it, who could not forget 
the conflicts of the past. The town, however, still 
had a goodly proportion of educated and cultivated 
residents, but mostly of limited means. Besides, the 
church to which I came had suffered the former pastor 
to be starved out, and he was still living in the place, 
and justly claimed the warm attachment of many of 
my parishioners. He was in fact an accomplished 
scholar, whose sermons w r ere of a high literary char- 
acter. Had I known the whole situation I should 
doubtless have declined to accept the invitation which 
I had received. But having once put my hand to the 
plow, it w T as not best to look back, so I plunged into 
the w r ork before me. 

The salary was small, four hundred dollars a year, 
without a parsonage, and the parish so scattered that 
it was necessary to keep a horse. Happily situated in 
my domestic affairs, w T e began to keep house in three 



no Story of My Life 

small rooms upstairs in a building which was occupied 
by one of my most active, officious, and ill-balanced 
parishioners. But his intentions were good, and he had 
inherited so many of his peculiarities that I could 
never blame him much for his inconsiderate conduct. 
But one of his actions, the first winter, I could nevcr 
wholly forget. When snow fell it was necessary for 
me to get some kind of a sleigh. So as befitted my 
financial standing I purchased a plain " pung," which 
was stronger and more comfortable than it was ele- 
gant. Naturally the people were somewhat piqued 
to see their pastor riding about in such a primitive 
mode of conveyance, especially as one of the outspoken 
deacons in a neighboring church said, " Your minister 
ought to ride in a pung if you pay him only four hun- 
dred dollars a year in war time." Whereupon my 
friend started a subscription to get his pastor an up-to- 
date " cutter " of which no one need be ashamed. It 
is needless to say that he was successful, and there- 
after we appeared as well as the best of our parishion- 
ers whenever we drove through the street or on the 
country roads. But the name of one of the wealthiest 
parishioners (if anyone could be called wealthy where 
all were compelled to practice the strictest economy) 
was conspicuous for its absence from the subscription 
paper. As, however, he was one of my warmest 
friends and admirers an explanation was necessary to 



Ten Years in a Country Parish i i i 

satisfy the people in general. The explanation was 
that my officious friend had scrupulously avoided show- 
ing the subscription paper to Captain Barnes, in order 
to cast odium upon him. 

This brother w r as guilty of many other things of the 
same character during the ten years of my stay in the 
parish. For instance, he enticed me to draw up a 
lease between him and an elderly lady for the culti- 
vation of a garden spot. To save lawyers' fees I did 
so to the best of my ability, though the amount in- 
volved was only the increase from half an acre. I 
thought of everything I could at the time ; but I did 
not specifically define what was to be done with the 
currants, and included them under " small fruit." 
Before the season was over, the church and town were 
thrown into convulsions over an arbitration to settle 
the right of the owner to allow a friend a pick two 
quarts of currants from the bushes in the garden. 
Only on one other occasion did I attempt to usurp 
the functions of an attorney. One other illustration 
of the weakness of my friend's good resolutions is too 
characteristic to be omitted. Toward the close of my 
ministry he came to me one morning as I was starting 
across the common to church services, with a written 
confession which he wished me to read, after the cus- 
tom of former days, to the whole church. It read, 
" In a controversy with Freeman Farnsworth yesterday 



H2 Story of My Life 

I called him ' a miserable mean old hunks/ and I 
ought not to have done it." But he added to me with 
a significant gesture, " He was all that, but I should 
not have called him that." Fortunately, a poor mem- 
ory which has afflicted me from my youth up, served 
me a good purpose that morning and the confession 
was not read. Meeting me as I came down from the 
pulpit my friend remarked that he presumed it was 
best to leave it so. 

I mention these facts which served to lighten up 
my ministry, partly in order to say that through them 
I learned to recognize goodness in very untoward dis- 
guises. I had no more sincere and faithful friend in 
all the years of labor in the parish than he. If he 
was weak in his resolutions he was ever ready to con- 
fess his sins, and he loved much because he had much 
forgiven. As one of my parishioners who w T as not a 
member of the church used to say, " It takes more to 
make some persons decent than it does to make others 
saints of the first water." Again, speaking of a num- 
erous family descended from one of the first settlers 
who lived on the outskirts of the town five miles 
from church, but who w r as always present with his 
children at the Sunday services, he said, " It is as 
natural for a Perkins to be religious as it is for a 
chicken to eat dough." I always doubted whether 
this goodness of the Perkins family was due more to 



Ten Years in a Country Parish 113 

heredity than to the good example of the parents, and 
their inheritance of the Divine promise to the fathers 
and their children and children's children. But cer- 
tainly my friend had a good deal to contend against 
on the score of inheritance. This appears from a 
story which was current relating to his father. 

Near the beginning of the century the Congrega- 
tional churches of that region were served by a num- 
ber of remarkable men, who were imbued with the 
old idea that when a pastor is settled over a church 
it is for life, the relation being about as permanent 
as that of marriage. Several of these old pastors were 
living when I came to my field, having been in their 
places for fifty years. Among them are the names of 
Parmelee, French, Ranslow, and Wooster, though the 
latter had past away some years before. But remem- 
brances of " Father Wooster " were very numerous 
and vivid. He was specially noted for the part he 
took in leading a company of his parishioners to rein- 
force our army in the battle of Plattsburgh, in 18 14. 
The church had gathered on Friday for their service 
preparatory to communion on the following Sabbath, 
when news came of the impending battle. Whereupon 
Father Wooster told his people that it was no time 
now to pray, it was a time to put on their armor and 
fight. Coming down from the pulpit he forthwith 
invited volunteers to follow him to the scene of con- 



ii4 Story of My Life 

flict. All but one present enlisted. The one whose 
name did not appear on the roll was the father of my 
friend. When the meeting closed and Father Wooster 
went out to the shed to get his horse, this one followed 
him and said, " I doubt if this is right." Whereupon 
Father Wooster turned and said, " He that doubteth 
is damned," and went on his way. The company led 
by this doughty pastor won plaudits from the whole 
nation, and the legislature of the State presented him 
with an elegantly bound Bible in recognition of his 
services. But notice had to be taken of his curt re- 
mark to his dissenting parishioner. So after the war 
was over the pastor was brought before the church for 
profanity. He was charged with having substituted 
" be " for " is " in the Biblical quotation given. But 
the church sustained the pastor. 

The conditions made by the decline of the two 
academies, to which reference has been made, were 
accentuated by the disbandment of several churches of 
different denominations which had flourished for a 
season, thus leaving a considerable number of families 
scattered over the town who were not affiliated with 
either of the remaining churches, and the most of whom 
regarded the village people as aristocratic, and lack- 
ing in cordiality. The result was that it was difficult 
to persuade them to join with us. It was on the 



Tt n Years in a Country Parish i i g 

outskirts of the town that President Arthur was born, 
his father being pastor of a Baptist church that be- 
came extinct not long before my advent on the scene. 
I soon learned that the evangelistic methods which 
had been so effective and successful in Brownsville, 
here must be joined to more systematic and prolonged 
efforts in a variety of directions in order to produce 
the desired results. Still, I wish to bear witness that 
my main dependence for producing the results for 
which the church exists, was the preaching of the gos- 
pel ; and in order to do this satisfactorily I was com- 
pelled to begin anew the study of the Bible, with all 
the helps that I could lay hold of. 

Hence, at the outset, I began to devote my fore- 
noons sacredly to study. I read the Bible through 
in Hebrew and Greek, consulting the most scholarly 
commentaries at my command. The result was that 
I found that subjects for sermons never thronged into 
my mind so plentifully as when working over the 
Hebrew and the Greek with the lexicons at my el- 
bow. But my studies were not limited to the Bible. 
I systematically reviewed all those I had been over in 
college, and enlarged greatly the circle of my investiga- 
tions. I partially made up for not having taken Ger- 
man in college by studying it by myself, and, as already 
said, I wrote out a translation of Kant's " Critique 
of Pure Reason," and the Bremen Lectures, and, like- 



Il6 Story of My Life 

wise, translations from the Greek of several of Plato's 
dialogues. The works in philosophy occupying at- 
tention at that time were those of Sir William Hamil- 
ton, John Stuart Mill, and President Noah Porter. 
Careful study of these works, together with the scien- 
tific discussions aroused by Darwin's " Origin of Spe- 
cies " and Lyell's " Antiquity of Man," led me, toward 
the close of my pastorate in Bakersfield, to prepare 
an article on the " Ground of Confidence in Inductive 
Reasoning," which was published in the New Eng- 
lander for October, 1871. This, as I afterwards 
learned from him, was approved for publication by 
President Porter. It received high commendation 
from one of the Scotch philosophical periodicals, and 
was the means of attracting to me the attention of 
Professor Asa Gray, with w^hom an acquaintance was 
formed which ripened into a lifelong friendship, in- 
deed, I may say partnership, in w T hich he assisted me 
in the preparation of the first book which I published, 
in which I w T as asked to discuss the relations of the- 
ology to current speculations concerning the origin of 
species. He, in turn, sought my aid in the preparation 
of various of his publications having the same end in 
view, especially in the last chapter of his " Darwin- 
iana." 

But I can confidently say that I did not neglect 
my pastoral work, or any of the natural responsibilities 



Ten Years in a Country Parish 117 

of my position. I carefully wrote out about thirty 
sermons each year. I held meetings in the school- 
houses in all the outskirts of the town, and cultivated 
the acquaintance of all the unconnected families that 
might properly be reckoned as belonging to my parish. 
I sunk tons of enthusiasm in helping to keep the tem- 
perance sentiment of the County up to such a pitch as 
to secure the enforcement of the State prohibitory law. 
I joined heartily in promoting the musical conventions 
which were held in different parts of the County, to 
which we drew the best talent for conductors, and for 
soloists to sing the parts too difficult for our local 
talent, which, by the way, was by no means of a low 
order. I was for several years town superintendent 
of schools. I organized a farmers' club, and taught 
them the use of superphosphates, and the advantages 
of soiling their stock. I organized a band of hope 
among the young people. How successful all these 
endeavors were it is not for me to say, but I shall 
certainly be rewarded if the will is taken for the deed. 
I fear my success in stock breeding w T as not of the 
first order, since the highest praise I got was from 
the Irish boy who drove my cow to pasture. One 
night he forgot to bring her home, but he came up 
smiling the next day with the exclamation that my 
cow " was bully. She was the best in the pasture. 
She could ' lick ' every one of the lot." Among other 



1 1 8 Story of My Life 

things I secured the building of a parsonage, hauling 
much of the lumber myself. I started to do the inside 
painting, having obtained the paint as a special con- 
tribution. But I was making such a botch of it that 
two of my elderly parishioners who were used to 
painting woodwork came in and forcibly took the 
brush from my hands, and finished the job in good 
style. 

After years of patient effort I had the satisfaction 
of seeing the social prejudice entertained by many 
families in the outskirts of the town break down, and 
them come to be among the most efficient helpers in 
the church. So far as I can sum up results they were 
greater in that small parish than they have been in the 
larger, and apparently more important, fields which I 
have since occupied. F. B. Denio, who has long filled 
with credit the chair of Old Testament Literature in 
Bangor Theological Seminary, was the first fruits of 
my ministry, and I was responsible for getting him 
ready for college. Several others became ministers 
either in the Congregational or the Methodist 
churches. Among them was Fernando C. Willett, 
one of the most brilliant young men I ever knew, but 
who, on graduating from Lane Seminary, developed 
tendencies to tuberculosis, which led him in search of 
health to go to Mexico as private secretary of the emi- 
nent diplomat, John W. Foster, at that time minister 



Ten Years in a Country Parish I I g 

to the Mexican Republic. Another was George W. 
Scott, who, after many years' successful service, died 
in his pulpit as he was beginning the service, several 
years ago. Waldo Worthing became a Methodist 
minister, as did George Frederick Wells, so prominent 
at the present time in promoting the union of small 
churches in country parishes. Though born soon after 
my leaving Bakersfield, he was named after me by 
his parents in grateful remembrance of my instru- 
mentality in leading them into the Christian life and 
into the church. Among other indications of the 
latent cultivation of my parishioners was, that among 
the various clubs which the women organized there 
was one for the study of Plato, which they did to good 
effect through Jowett's translation, which I purchased 
for them. 

Shortly before I left, and partly through my influ- 
ence, the Academy was revived, and soon after largely 
endowed by members of the Brigham family. Brig- 
ham Academy is now one of the principal preparatory 
schools of the State. 

I cannot say that it was smooth sailing all those ten 
years. I made some phenomenal mistakes. But they 
were in days of ignorance at which the Lord evidently 
winked. On one occasion I innocently offended a 
number of large and influential families in the church 



120 Story of My Life 

and town by choosing an unfortunate text for a fu- 
neral sermon. An aged member of the church who was 
reputed to be one of the most wealthy, suddenly died 
while I was absent, but I returned just in time to 
preach the sermon at his funeral. It was known that 
he had recently asked me to write his will ; but I had 
no suspicion that this had aroused any special interest. 
It appeared, however, that there were strong suspicions 
that he had not made such a will as his large number 
of relatives would approve ; and they were all gathered 
w T ith a determination to break it. The deceased was a 
warm friend of mine, but he was very severely and, as 
I believed, unjustly criticised by outside parties for some 
of his business transactions. I therefore conceived the 
idea of making my sermon an indirect defense of his real 
character, and tried to show that few of us accomplished 
the good which we really aimed to do ; that none of us 
came up to the ideal which as followers of Christ we 
attempted to attain; but that the Lord, who sees the 
heart, takes cognizance only of the aims which we 
cherish, and will reward us solely for our faithfulness. 
Unhappily I chose for my text a part of the eighteenth 
verse of the seventh chapter of Romans which reads, 
" For to will is present with me ; but how to perform 
that which is good I find not." The relatives heard 
nothing beyond the text, and as soon as the burial was 
over proceeded to raise such a commotion that it al- 



Ten Years in a Country Parish 121 

most seemed that it would be necessary for me to leave 
town at once. But time gradually softened their 
feelings and in after years I had no firmer friends than 
they were. Months afterwards, however, I had to' 
spend considerable time and skill in convincing one oi 
the most prominent of them that I did not mean to 
" hit them in the text." 

It is proper that I should say a word about my 
associates in the ministry. Nearly all the Congrega- 
tional churches of the county were small, but they ail 
paid larger salaries than that which I received. These 
churches were served by a noble and highly educated 
ministry with which it was a great privilege to be as- 
sociated. We assisted each other in many ways, in 
the winter season holding what were called "circular 
conferences," in which we went in considerable num- 
bers to each other's parishes and held meetings for two 
or three days during the middle of trie week. Thus 
we all became well acquainted with each other and 
with our various parishes. Sometimes I would drive 
off through the snow forty miles in the winter to at- 
tend such meetings. The ministers were nearly all 
graduates of college and of a theological seminary, and 
made Hebrew and Greek the basis of their inter- 
pretation of Scripture. Their society was a constant 
stimulus. I could not but be somewhat flattered when 



122 Story of My Life 

at one time with Mrs. Wright I was compelled 5y a 
snowstorm on a forty-mile drive in the winter to turn 
in to the hospitable parsonage of Father Dougherty 
' (on whom Vermont University conferred the degree 
of D. D.) and seek shelter, to have him give thanks, 
saying that the best culture his family received was 
by contact with the clergymen and their families whom 
he was permitted to entertain. 

In the end the smallness of my salary proved a bless- 
ing to me, and I hope to the world. We lived com- 
fortably, notwithstanding war prices. Gold went up 
to 285 premium, and calico cloth accordingly, plain 
prints selling at fifty cents a yard. But we com- 
menced housekeeping with a good supply of sheets 
and clothing, which lasted until prices began to 
come down. Besides, I made one speculative venture 
that netted me something. I bought a kitchen stove 
for seven and a half dollars when we began house- 
keeping. Three years later when I wanted to get a 
" Stewart stove " at the discount which the inventor 
offered to ministers, I sold the kitchen stove which 
had been in constant use all the time since it was 
purchased, and received eleven dollars and a half for 
it. This was the only profitable speculative venture 
I ever made. Besides, my salary w T as raised at last to 
five hundred and fifty dollars, but was never fully 
collected. I was like one of my neighboring pastors 



Ten Years in a Country Parish I2J 

who begged his people not to raise his salary again, he 
had so much trouble in collecting the smaller amount. 
The real advantage of my smaller salary was that I 
had to make a virtue of necessity and dispense with 
expensive vacations, and get my recreation in studying 
the topography and geology of the interesting region 
in the vicinity. With my horse I drove extensively 
over the Green Mountains and into the French set- 
tlements in the broad plain of the lower St. Law- 
rence River in Quebec. I also toured afoot with com- 
panions the region of the Adirondacks, on the western 
side of Lake Champlain. The result was that I be- 
came something of a local authority on the glacial 
deposits of a most interesting region. If I had only 
known as much about the subject then as later study 
has brought to light it w T ould have, added immensely 
to the joy of those years. But that was impossible at 
that time. It is in place here, however, to anticipate 
and tell what I see there now in light of later investi- 
gations. 

Bakersfield village is built on a beautiful level- 
topped sand deposit six hundred feet above the sea, 
covering about a square mile. This breaks off abruptly 
on both sides, and wells a hundred feet deep do not 
reach the bottom of the deposit. (Similar plains I 
had been familiar with in my boyhood near the south 



124 Story of My Life 

end of Lake Champlain in Castleton, Fairhaven, and 
Westhaven, on the east side of the Lake.) There was 
also an adjoining area about as large which was dotted 
over with " kettle holes/' and running into it from the 
north a well-defined " esker " a mile or more in 
length. All this was a mystery to me and to all 
geologists at that time, but as interpreted by investiga- 
tions which I afterwards set in motion in my next 
parish, 1 had significance as follows: 

The glacial ice which came down from Labrador, 
on crossing the St. Lawrence Valley, was for a time 
obstructed by the mountains of northern Vermont and 
by the Adirondacks in New York, and pressed down 
through the valley of Lake Champlain in a great glacial 
tongue, fifty or sixty miles wide. Finally, however, 
it overflowed, and extended as far south as New York 
City, having a depth of more than one mile over the 
northern part of New England, thus covering the 
highest mountains of that region. But so far all this 
had nothing to do with the gravel terraces at Rakers- 
field, which belong to the closing stages of the period. 

In the light of our present knowledge of the prog- 
ress of events during the recession of the continental 
glacier, w r e interpret the facts as follows. The re- 
treat of the ice was accompanied both by the with- 
drawal of the southern front, and by the lowering of 
the surface by melting. Thus the mountain tops 



Ten Years in a Country Parish 125 

would at length reappear above the glacial tongue 
which filled the Champlain Valley. One result of 
this would be that the reflected heat of the sunshine 
from the mountain sides would make the ice lower 
at the margins than in the middle, so that there would 
be established lines of drainage along the sides, with 
the ice maintaining the level on one side of the stream 
and the mountain on the other. Marginal lakes would 
likewise be formed at these levels on the serrated flanks 
of the mountains. And such are found on the flanks 
of the Green Mountains up to a level of one thousand 
feet or more. At the time when I became familiar 
with these gravel terraces it was generally supposed 
that they indicated a former submergence to that ex- 
tent below the ocean, and hence were called " marine 
terraces." If I had only known their proper explana- 
tion during those first ten years of my ministerial 
labor it would have lent a wonderful charm to the 
recreation of vacations and blue Mondays, and would 
have afforded me abundant material to interest the 
members of my parish both young and old. 

It is thought of this, largely, that moves me to 
write these simple annals of my life. The mental 
picture which now comes up to my mind of the slow 
but majestic advance of this mighty engine of erosion 
as it filled the St. Lawrence Valley, projected itself 
southward between the Green Mountains and the 



126 Story of My Life 

Adirondack^, and finally overwhelmed their summits 
(leaving bowlders on the top of Alt. Washington 
more than a mile above sea level), until it reached 
Staten Island beyond New York City, piling up im- 
mense moraines there and on Long Island out of the 
debris which it had gathered in its course — this picture 
is equalled only by that of the glacial lakes, streams, 
and deltas which marked its retreat and decline. The 
sandy plain about Saratoga where Burgoyne struggled 
amid innumerable ravines which small streams had 
worn in it, similar plains about my early home in 
Fairhaven, Castleton, and Rutland, and innumerable 
others with which I became familiar, all along the 
western flank of the Green Mountains, and which so 
often served for beautiful village sites, are all now 
seen to be the products of this slow-moving, com- 
plicated, but most majestic cause. The interpretation 
of such natural phenomena by teachers and pastors t j 
their pupils and parishioners should be regarded as a 
bounden duty. 



Ten Years at Andover 127 



CHAPTER IV 

TEN YE.ARS AT ANDOVER 

PROVIDENCE played a principal part in my removal 
to another field of labor. Friends had often spoken 
to me of vacant parishes which seemed to offer wider 
opportunities than those in Bakersfield, together with 
a larger salary. And now as I was entering on the 
tenth year of my ministry I began to consider such 
openings. In the spring of 1872 an invitation came 
from a parish in Michigan which I had conditionally 
promised to accept. But meanwhile I was invited 
by one of my warmest personal friends (Rev. Edwin 
S. Williams) to preach one Sunday for him in Ins 
pulpit in Andover, Massachusetts. On responding to 
his request I found, when on the ground, that my 
friend was soon to leave the parish for another field 
and wished to get me before them as a candidate to 
succeed him, so that there might not be any inter- 
regnum. The result was that a call came from the 
church almost immediately. Delay in the mails caused 
by a terrible snowstorm prevented tb^ Michigan call 
from reaching me till after I had accepted that 
from Andover. On this hung all my future career. 
I went to Andover instead of to Michigan, and w 7 as 



128 Story of My Life 

at once plunged into the midst of theological and 
scientific discussions that have given character to all 
my subsequent labors and investigations. 

The Free Church in Andover to which I came was 
in most respects an ideal field. It had in it the rich 
manufacturing families of the town who were as de- 
voted to the welfare of the church and society as they 
were to their business. Some members of these fam- 
ilies were Harvard College graduates, among them 
a young retired Congregational clergyman, Rev. 
Francis Howe Johnson, one of the profoundest think- 
ers on the ultimate facts of Theism, and author of 
two volumes ("What is Reality?" and " God in 
Evolution: A Pragmatic Study ofc Theology"), de- 
serving of the attention of all scholars. His friendship 
and advice played a very important part in furthering 
and directing my investigations and study during my 
eventful years in Andover. Nearly half of the con- 
gregation were Scotch workmen skilled in the manu- 
facture of flax threads; while a third were from 
old-time New England families living both in the 
village and on the farms surrounding it. The inmates 
of the poorhouse also belonged to the parish and al- 
ways formed a part of the congregation. For nearly 
ten years the gospel as I preached it seemed to satisfy 
all these classes equally well, and the church continued 
to thrive and increase, and ever since has been a grow- 



Ten Years at Andover 1 29 

i.ng power in the community, thus demonstrating that 
the gospel is addressed to the " common man " and 
not to the classes into which society is divided. 

My wealthy parishioners consisted of members of 
the Smith & Dove Manufacturing Company. The 
success of this company and the relation of its mem- 
bers to their working people and to the community 
in general, have served to form, to a large degree, my 
views concerning the relations of capital to labor. Mr. 
John Smith, the senior partner, came from Scotland 
in 1 81 6, getting employment as a journeyman machin- 
ist in Medway, Massachusetts. In 1824 he came to 
Andover and in company with one or two others set 
up a manufactory for cotton machinery. Meantime 
his brother Peter had joined him in 1822, and in 1833 
they persuaded a young countryman of inventive 
genius, who had just come to America, to join them 
in their work. This was John Dove. The three di- 
rected their energies to the manufacture of flax yarns, 
including shoe thread, then coming more and more 
into demand. Gradually their products attained such 
a reputation that they could dispense with selling 
agents, since orders came to them direct from those 
who had learned to trust their honor and skill in pro- 
ducing goods that were in demand. Thus it was 
difficult for them to avoid becoming rich, as new com- 



130 Story of My Life 

peting firms could with difficult}' earn the confidence 
that belonged to the good name of the Smith & Dove 
Manufacturing Company. During my pastorate the 
company annually consumed 2,000,000 pounds of flax 
and flax tow, importing much of it from Archangel, 
the freight from there to Boston being somewhat less 
than from Buffalo to Boston. They employed about 
three hundred operatives, with whom their relations 
were most cordial. Especially do I remember the 
genial cordiality of Mr. Joseph W. Smith, w T ho suc- 
ceeded his father, and who, though not born in Scot- 
land, preserved the flavor of Scotch humor even better 
than those who were native born. The members of 
these families were always present at the church serv- 
ices and identified themselves with all the interests of 
the town. Now for seventy-five years this firm has 
continued business through all the fluctuations of the 
market without failure, or interruption, giving con- 
tinuous employment to a large number of workmen, 
from whose families have gone forth most worthy 
and successful members into all ranks of society. It 
is difficult to see how T any better results could have 
been produced through any system of communism that 
interfered with the rights of private property and 
chilled the ardor of private enterprise. 

At that time the Andover Theological Seminary 
still maintained its preeminence among the theological 



Ten Years at Andover 131 

forces that had dominated the country for three-quar- 
ters of a century. Edwards A. Park, the prince of 
American theologians and preachers, was then in his 
prime. Austin Phelps, the prince of homiletical teach- 
ers, was at his post, and his daughter, Elizabeth Stuart 
Phelps, was just beginning her remarkable literary 
career, injecting her keen criticisms of the current 
theology into the popular literature of the time. John 
Henry Thayer was hard at work on his grammar and 
lexicon of the New Testament. Charles M. Mead 
was concentrating his metaphysical mind upon the 
problems of the Old Testament, and preparing him- 
self to answer the destructive critics of the Old Testa- 
ment by issuing, in both English and German under 
the pseudonym of MacRealsham, a documentary the- 
ory of the origin of the book of Romans which was 
as convincing as the theory of the higher critics that the 
Pentateuch was a combination of unconnected docu- 
ments, put together by skillful editors long after the oc- 
currence of the events. Wesley Churchill w T as charming 
the world with his dramatic readings, and Selah Merrill 
was well along in his preparation for his work in As- 
syriology and Biblical Archaeology. In the Andover 
Association of Congregational ministers, as in that of 
Franklin County, Vermont, I enjoyed the privilege of 
consorting with a highly educated body of men. The 
study of the Hebrew Bible was carried on continuously, 



132 Story of My Life 

resulting among other things in a valuable commentary 
on the book of Esther. The names of Street, Baker, 
Greene, Coit, Charles Smith, W. E. Park, Haley, 
J. H. Barrows, Munger, and J. H. Merrill are among 
those whose stimulus to study was inspiring. The 
Bibliotheca Sacra, under the editorship of Professor 
Park had for thirty years been the main scholarly 
expounder of the New England theology, and was the 
representative of the two thousand living Andover 
graduates scattered all over the world. But the in- 
fluence of Darwinism, and of the so-called liberalizing 
tendencies of the time, was pressing for attention, and 
naturally I was soon drawn into the vortex of discus- 
sion, a vortex from which I have not yet emerged. 

Before going to Andover my glacial studies had at- 
tracted the attention of Professor Charles Hitchcock, 
then of Dartmouth College, and he had been in cor- 
respondence with me concerning the glacial phenomena 
of northern Vermont. Knowledge of my interest in 
geological matters had preceded me. But I was 
commiserated by one of the older ministers on having 
come to a region which had nothing in it of general 
geological interest. It soon developed, however, that 
I had been put down where one of the most important 
and interesting problems in glacial geology presented 
itself at the very back door of the Free Church par- 



Ten Yi ars at dndover 133 

sonage. This problem pertained to the remarkable 
congeries of gravel ridges locally known as Indian 
Ridge. A paper on this ridge had been presented by 
President Hitchcock, father of Professor Charles 
Hitchcock, to the American Association of Geolog 
and Naturalists in 1842. This paper was substantially 
reproduced in the Geology published by President 
Hitchcock and studied by our class in college. I: 
turned out that this was the only geological problem 
of importance that I could have attacked with any 
probability of finding a satisfactory original solution. 
On writing to Professor Hitchcock about it, he ex- 
pressed gratification that it was being studied anew ; 
but he believed the ridge to be of marine origin, as 
his father and more lately James Geikie, writing of 
similar ridges in Scotland and Ireland, had supposed. 
Observations carried on chiefly on " blue Mondays." 
soon showed that this explanation did not cover ail 
the facts. So I kept on for three years until a new 
theory was established to my own satisfaction, and 
I was ready to bring it before the public. In 
all this I had the backing of my highly educated parish- 
ioners, especially of Mr. George W. W. Dove, who 
contributed his skill as a draughtsman in putting my 
paper into more intelligible form than I could have 
done myself. 

The theorv, which has since been universally ac- 



134 Story of M : 

cepted, connects the ridges with the closing stages of 
the great Ice age,, when the surface of the continental 
ice sheet had been lowered, by melting, to near the 
land surface, leaving much stagnant ice in the hol- 
lows and depressions,, partially to determine the course 
of the superabundant drainage waters flowing off to- 
ward the sea. In the process of this long-continued 
melting of the ice surface, the gravel incorporated into 
the moving mass accumulated in large quantities on 
the surface, and was consequently swept into the chan- 
nels in the ice and under it by the floods which were 
seeking egress. Thus the ridges would be somewhat 
independent of the lines of drainage as determined by 
the land surface alone, and might undulate over small 
elevations and depressions. After having traced this 
ridge over the undulating country from Boston up 
into New Hampshire for a total distance of thirty or 
forty miles, I was ready to present my theory to the 
scientific public. This was first done before the Es- 
sex Institute of Salem, Massachusetts, one of the most 
venerable and cultivated scientific associations of the 
country. This was in 1875, and the report may be 
found in the minutes of the Association for that year. 
My theory received almost immediate confirmation in 
what is thought to be the best proof of a supposition 
dealing with physical forces. For on that occasion I 
ventured to prophesy by it. I said that if it wa> 



Ten Years at Andovi r 135 

true there should be a parallel line of gravel ridges 
presenting corresponding phenomena, running north- 
ward from the vicinity of Salem into New Hampshire, 
and asked for information of such ridges. Within 
two weeks such a parallel line of ridges was established 
for a distance of fifty or sixty miles, and I was able 
at once to examine it at various points. 

Thus encouraged, I was invited to present a more 
formal paper on the subject before the Boston Societv 
of Natural History, which was composed of the most 
eminent scientific authorities of Boston and Cambridge. 
The paper was at once accepted for publication in the 
proceedings of the Society, under the title " Some 
Remarkable Gravel Ridges in the Merrimack Valley." 
This appeared in the volume for 1876. 

My paper was brought to the attention of scientific 
men in an unexpected and interesting way, by a chance 
meeting with Clarence King, just back from his geo- 
logical survey of the fortieth parallel. I was on the 
way with Mr. George Dove to visit in South Carolina 
the phosphate mines of the company to which he be- 
longed, and when passing through New York City 
dropped into their office there, just as Mr. King came 
in, and was introduced to him. The proof of my 
paper had been given me as I was leaving home, so 
that I had it with me. On speaking to Mr. King 
about it he requested to see it, and on looking it 



136 Story of My L 

over said at once that my explanation was correct, and 
that as soon as he returned to his room he would write 
out for me. to incorporate in the paper, observations 
which he had recently made in the Cascade Mountains 
of California, which completely confirmed my theory. 
At the same time he told me of his discovery but a 
short time before of the great terminal moraine south 
of the Massachusetts coast, which Dana and Lesley 
had recently said did not exist. But he said there 
could be no doubt that the Elizabeth Islands south- 
west of Woods Holl were part of a genuine terminal 
moraine; and in the communication which he wrote 
out for me to incorporate in my paper all these fact- 
were stated, thus giving me an initial endorsement 
which at once brought my work to the notice of 
glacial geologists the world over. But for this there 
is no knowing whether my paper would have attracted 
much attention. 

Very early in my stay in Andover Professor Park 
associated me with him in the preparation of articles 
for the Bibliothcca Sacr'a. The first work he re- 
quested me to undertake was to show how Infant 
Baptism could be made in practice to consist with the 
Congregational principle of a " regenerate church 
membership." This discussion was made incumbent 
by various challenges of distinguished Baptists, calling 



Ten Years at Andover 137 

attention to the apparent inconsistency of apply in lt n 
rite to persons in anticipation of their having the char- 
acter which the rite assumed them to have. The task 
was a difficult one, and I fear my efforts were not 
productive in changing the opinion of our opponents. 
But I have the satisfaction of knowing that in the two 
articles which I prepared the discussion was carried 
on in a courteous spirit, and that I did not belittle 
the arguments by which the Baptists defend their prac- 
tice of close communion, and their neglect of infant 
baptism. For the ordinances are but means to an end, 
and where the end is of transcendent importance we 
may be allowed to differ with respect to the means 
which contribute to that end. 

Then Professor Park wished me to prepare a series 
of articles stating the arguments for and against Dar- 
winism, and showing the bearing of that theory upon 
the doctrine of design in nature, and upon theological 
opinions in general. Fortunately my readiness to un- 
dertake this work was greatly facilitated by the friend- 
ship, to which I have already referred, of Professor 
Asa Gray, who in addition to his regular work in 
botany had been foremost in contending that the doc- 
trine of design in nature was not at all endangered 
by Darwinism, and who, as already remarked, after 
reading my article in the New Englander, on the 
" Ground of Confidence in Inductive Reasoning," had 



138 Story of My Life 

requested my acquaintance. This I cheerfully granted, 
and he became from that time like a father to me in 
the work in which I was engaged. It was enough 
for me that these articles on Darwinism in the 
Bibliotheca Sacra met his approval, and were in- 
debted to him for much of their form of statement. 
It was gratifying, also, to have a letter from Darwin, 
written in his own hand, in which he said that the 
statement of his theory " was powerfully written and 
most clear/' and requested me to send him the follow- 
ing article in which objections w^ere to be presented. 
These articles maintained what has been more and 
more evident as attention has been given to the subject, 
that the observed variations in both plants and ani- 
mals are much greater than Darwin had supposed, and 
that so many correlated variations had to take place 
at once to make any one variation an advantage, that 
nothing less than design either wrought into the or- 
iginal plan, or added by way of increment, could ac- 
count for the facts. From the theological side it was 
maintained that Calvinism and Darwinism had so 
many points in common that theologians could not 
consistently cast stones at the men of science favoring 
a scheme in which " predestination and foreordina- 
tion " were salient features. In fact, from a philoso- 
phical point of view, Darwinism has all the unlovely 
characteristics of hyper-Calvinism without any of the 



Ten Years at Andover 139 

redeeming remedial features inherent in the Calvin- 
istic system. Pure Darwinism leaves no place for the 

gospel. These essays were subsequently republished 
in a volume, together with the essay on the " Ground 
of Confidence in Inductive Reasoning," and an essay 
on " The Antiquity of Man," dealing especially with 
the evidence of glacial man in America, also an essay 
on " The Relation of the Bible to Science." From a 
copy owned by Henry Ward Beecher, which has fal- 
len into my hands, I have found from his annotations 
that he had read the book carefully, and been duly 
influenced by it. 1 

My scientific associations during all the period of. 
my stay in Andover were of the greatest value to me. 
The leading men of science in the vicinity of Boston 
were connected with the Boston Society of Natural 
History, and I was honored by being made for some 
years one of its directors. Among the distinguished 
men of science with whom I was associated in the 
Boston Society of Natural History, and who gave me 
aid and inspiration, were the following: Alexander 
Agassiz, J. A. Allen, G. H. Barton, T. T. Bouve, 
L. S. Burbank, E. Burgess, W. O. Crosby, W. M. 
Davis, W. G. Farlow, J. W. Fewkes, A. W. Gra- 
bau, Asa Gray, H. W. Haynes, Alpheus Hyatt, J. E. 
Jeffries, J. Marcou, C. S. Minot, E. S. Morse, W. 
H. Niles, J. B. Perry, F. W. Putnam, W. B, Rogers, 



140 Story of My Life 

S. H. Scuddcr, N. S. Shaler, M. E. Wadsworth, J. D. 

Whitney, J. B. Woodworth, and J. Wyman. 

In glacial studies, my chief coadjutors were Mr. 
Warren Upham, of the New Hampshire Geological 
Survey, and Professor George H. Stone, of Kent's 
Hill, Maine. Taking up my clue, Professor Stone 
soon mapped a series of fifteen or twenty eskers, or 
" kames " as they were then called, parallel to mine 
in eastern Massachusetts, extending to the New 
Brunswick line. Later he published a Monograph on 
the glacial deposits of Maine, for the United States 
Geological Survey. Mr. Upham, not only published 
elaborately on the eskers of New Hampshire, but, tak- 
ing up the clue to the great terminal moraine furnished 
me by Clarence King, located in a marvellously short 
time the whole moraine x along the south shore of New 
England, and through Long Island. It is interesting 
to note, however, that at this time there was consider- 
able hesitation about accepting the reality both of 
eskers and of terminal moraines. Professor Dana had 
another explanation for the gravel ridges which Mr. 
Upham had described in the Connecticut Valley, and 
had it already in print in the American Journal of 
Science, but before the number was issued, he came 
to Andover to look over the field with me. That 
satisfied him, and he added an appendix of a few 



Ten Years at Andover 141 

lines to his destructive article, saying that my gravel 
ridges were eskers without doubt. 

About this time Dr. C. C. Abbott, of Trenton, New 
Jersey, was reporting the discovery of palaeolithic im- 
plements in the gravel terrace on which the city of 
Trenton is built. From all reports it seemed that 
his discoveries were similar in significance to those 
made in France by Boucher de Perthes and others, in 
the valley of the Somme. Professor F. W. Putnam 
and Professor Gray suggested to me that I should go 
to Trenton to see what light my knowledge of glacial 
gravels might shed on the question of the age of Ab- 
bott's implements. Accordingly I went to Trenton 
in company with Professor Bo} r d Dawkins, one of the 
most prominent of the authorities on the prehistoric 
antiquities of Great Britain, and with Professor Henry 
W. HajTies, one of the best qualified authorities on the 
subject in America. We were joined in Trenton by 
Henry Carvill Lewis of Philadelphia, whom I had 
interested in the subject a short time before. This 
visit to Trenton under the direction of Dr. Abbott, 
brought evidence of the clearest character of the ex- 
istence of man on this continent, as w T ell as in Europe, 
before the close of the Glacial epoch, and so gave 
new zest to my investigations, since now glacial studies 
touched on the theological and Biblical questions in 
which I was primarily interested. I will say more 



142 Story of My Life 

on this point later. But here it is proper to remark 
that scarcely a year has passed since, that I have nor 
visited Dr. Abbott, and his coadjutor, Mr. Ernest 
Yolk, to see for myself the discoveries which they 
were making, and twice I have spent a week at a 
time in Trenton, conducting independent investiga- 
tions there with a committee of the American Associa- 
tion for the Advancement of Science. 

During the later part of my stay in Andover it was 
suggested to me both by Professor Asa Gray and by 
the Andover professors that my familiarity with 
science and the Bible gave me an opportunity to write 
a book on the evidences of Christianity which would 
meet a deeply felt want. The result was " The 
Logic of Christian Evidences, " in which I endeavored 
to apply the principles of inductive logic to the evi- 
dences of Christianity in the same rigorous manner in 
which they were being applied to the more indefinite 
of the natural sciences, such as geology and biology. 
The first part of the book was devoted to illustrations 
of what constitutes proof in the various sciences; the 
second part, to the consideration of Theism and 
Christianity, in which my studies of Darwinism were 
used to advantage in discussing the doctrine of de- 
sign ; the third part, to the specific evidences of the 
genuineness and authority of the New Testament. 
Professor John Henry Thayer offered to take the 



Ten Years at A adorer 143 

manuscript, when it was finished, to the Appletons, 
and give to them his endorsement as to its value. 
But they declined to publish, saying that although it 
was an ably written book, they did not think it would 
be profitable to the publishers; for, they wrote, " those 
who believe in Christianity do not need it, and those 
who do not believe in Christianity w T ill not read it." 
"Whereupon it was given, to Warren F. Draper, the 
Andover publisher, who issued it in 1880. Suffice 
it to say that the book met with a large immediate 
sale, and has continued to sell up to the present time, 
six editions having been issued. Professor Otto 
Zockler of Germany spoke of it as deserving "to be 
conspicuously mentioned." Dr. Thomas Hill, one- 
time President of Harvard University, pronounced it 
" a remarkable and remarkably successful attempt to 
condense a library into a small volume." Mr. Draper 
advertised that President Hill said it was a "success- 
ful attempt," etc. But I called his attention to this 
as another illustration of the fact that strong adjectives 
often weakened the positive statements to w T hich they 
were prefixed. He did not say a " successful attempt," 
but only a " remarkably successful attempt." 

In the spring of 1881 Professor J. P. Lesley, direc-' 
tor of the Second Geological Survey of Pennsylvania, 
asked Mr. Henry Carvill Lewis and me to trace the 



! 44 Story of My Life 

terminal moraine of the great Ice age across that State. 
He said that he did not believe there was any well- 
marked moraine, but he wanted the facts known and 
put on record among the results of his survey. We 
were to have our expenses paid, but were to offer our 
services gratuitously. Accordingly we set about the 
work as soon as my summer vacation began, which 
was generously extended somewhat by my church. 
Taking up the line on the Delaware River a little 
above Easton, where Professor George H. Cook, of 
the Geological Survey of New Jersey had left it, we 
prosecuted our investigations continuously throughout 
the summer until the work was nearly completed. 
Finding where the southern limits of northern bowl- 
ders, scratched stones and surfaces, and unstratified 
transported material ended, we proceeded to drive in 
and out over every road, marking the limit as we 
went along. We thus surveyed a belt of territory 
across the State about twenty miles in width, and 
much to Professor Lesley's delight, made our report 
fixing the line that is shown on all maps of glacial 
phenomena covering that State. Our report, pre- 
pared by Mr. Lewis, constitutes volume Z of the 
elaborate report of the Second Geological Survey of the 
State, and was entitled " The Terminal Moraine in 
Pennsylvania and Western New York," to which is 
appended " The Terminal Moraine in Ohio and 



Ten Years at Andover 145 

Kentucky, by G. F. Wright,'' thus including some 
of my later work which was clone before the Penn- 
sylvania report was published. 

Professor Lesley was partly right and partly wrong 
in his surmises. The terminal moraine which we 
traced did not mark the extreme limit of the ice sheet 
in Pennsylvania. It was, however, a genuine moraine 
of the latter part of the Glacial epoch, now spoken 
of as the Wisconsin episode. Before we had finished 
our survey we perceived that there was a border cov- 
ered with scattered glacial marks extending an in- 
definite distance farther south than our moraine. 
This w r e denominated " the fringe." Later authori- 
ties (we never could see why) objected to that word 
so strongly that w T e have adopted their word, " at- 
tenuated border." But in my subsequent explorations 
west of Pennsylvania (of which I will speak later) 
I delineated the limit of this attenuated border, while 
Professor E. H. Williams has prepared an elaborate 
report, begun at my suggestion, on the attenuated bor- 
der of glacial action in the State. One of the most 
striking things revealed by our survey was that the 
glacial border is very irregular. In the eastern part 
of the State it is as far south as the latitude of New 
York City, while south of Buffalo it has swung as far 
north as Salamanca in New York State; whence it 
runs southwest as far as Cincinnati. 



146 Story of My Life 



CHAPTER V. 



TRANSFER TO OBERLIN 



Another of the great turning points in my life 
occurred at this time. I had been invited a year be- 
fore to take the chair of New Testament Language 
and Literature, to succeed my old and beloved Pro- 
fessor Morgan, in Oberlin Theological Seminary. At 
that time, for various reasons, I declined the invita- 
tion. But now, partly in view of the approaching 
theological convulsion which I dimly discerned as 
rising above the horizon in Andover, I wrote to Presi- 
dent Fairchild that if the chair was not yet filled I 
would reconsider my decision. An immediate repeti- 
tion of the call came. I am not much given to fol- 
lowing vague impressions that come unbidden into 
the mind ; but in this case such an impression, of which 
I have never before spoken, came upon me at a definite 
time and place as I was one day, in the early spring 
of that year, walking past the Memorial Library 
toward home. The impression was so strong, that, 
without being able to give any adequate reason for it, 
I wrote as I did to President Fairchild. 

And hereby hangs a tale. Professor Dana expos- 
tulated with me for leaving the East, where I had 



Transfer to Oberlin 147 

made my scientific reputation, and going so far away 
from the leading centers of scientific investigation. 

But it soon developed, that the only place in the world 
where I could have carried on my glacial investiga- 
tions successfully was again unexpectedly opened to 
me. The Western Reserve Historical Society of 
Cleveland had for its presiding genius Judge C. C. 
Baldwin, a man of remarkable breadth of view, and 
deeply devoted to the propagation of the higher in- 
terests of his city and state. Professor Charles Fair- 
child was the financial agent of Oberlin College, and 
was on the lookout for fields of labor in which the 
various professors might distinguish themselves. Rev. 
Charles Collins was pastor of the Plymouth Congre- 
gational Church, of Cleveland, and was thoroughly 
interested in scientific investigations affecting theologi- 
cal views. When it w T as brought to the notice of 
these men that remains of glacial man had been dis- 
covered, as we have related, at Trenton, New Jersey, 
and that I had traced the glacial boundary across 
Pennsylvania to the Ohio line, they said, " Here is 
work for the Western Reserve Historical Society. It 
man was in America during the Glacial epoch, then 
everything bearing on that epoch has historical sig- 
nificance, and opens a proper field for us to enter." 
No sooner said than done. Funds were raised to pay 
my expenses in extending my explorations of the 



148 Story of My Life 

glacial boundary across Ohio and the states farther 
west. In those days railroad presidents were per- 
mitted to give passes to their friends, and my cousin, 
Jarvis Adams, then President of the New York, 
Pennsylvania and Ohio R. R., secured passes for me 
and an assistant over every road from Pittsburgh to 
St. Louis. My services were gratuitous. 

Space will not permit me to go into details concern- 
ing the prosecution of the work that now opened so 
auspiciously. Suffice it to say that for three years it 
occupied the long vacations, of about four months 
each. The work w T as continued as in Pennsj'lvania, 
and like the investigations in that State was beset 
with many difficulties, because of the irregularity of 
the line. For days at a time the line would be found 
to run in a southwesterly direction, as in western 
Pennsylvania and southern Ohio, then it would turn 
directly westward, or, as in eastern Indiana, directly 
to the north to make a great unexpected loop. Thus 
prophecy of the direction the line would take often led 
us astray, and sent us forward to waste days either in 
or out of the line before we found the real margin. 
The vagaries of our wanderings often greatly mystified 
the people. At one time we w r ere gone so long with 
the livery rig, and our whereabouts was so unknown, 
that- advertisements were out for us as horse thieves. 
At another time it was supposed that we were advance 



Transfer to Oberlin 149 

agents of a circus, going ahead to put up advertise- 
ments. As such we were favored by the livery men, 
as belonging to a class that liberally patronized their 
business and paid well for the services rendered. At 
another time we were taken for lightning rod agents, 
in a region where the buildings were provided with 
gilt-top rods projecting from each end of the roof 
gables without any ground connection — ■ the theory 
being that the lightning would run down one end and 
go off into the sky at the other end. We lived with 
the people, and were well taken care of, so that the 
work was a real and profitable vacation. Thus I 
obtained a knowledge, incidentally, of the general 
geology, the topography, the botany, and the social 
conditions characterizing a belt of territory, twenty 
miles wide, extending from the Atlantic Ocean to the 
Mississippi River. The livery horses w^ere all faith- 
ful, the people all obliging so that my respect for both 
human nature and horse nature was raised to a high 
degree. The nearest to real danger which I ever 
came was at a small settlement in Indiana called 
" Lick Skillet," in the region made celebrated by Eg- 
gleston's " Hoosier Schoolmaster." On reaching that 
place I was ill and needed to consult a physician. But 
the only sign to be found was " Sam Jones, Physician 
and Undertaker." I gave him a w T ide berth, and drove 
on to the next settlement. 



150 Story of My Life 

As my explorations proceeded, great interest was 
shown in Cleveland, where large audiences gathered 
to hear my annual reports. Professor Dana published 
articles with maps in the American Journal of Science, 
and the Boston Society of Natural History received the 
reports which I personally made to them as being a 
continuation of the work which they had had the honor 
of first recognizing and endorsing. Some said it was 
work that anybody could have done and required only 
that a person keep right on to a finish. And that was 
what I did. Some said that there was no more inter- 
est attaching to the marginal deposits than to any por- 
tion of the glaciated region above the border. This I 
did not dispute. The fact remains, however, that the 
establishing of the actual limit of the advance of the 
continental glacier has furnished a basis for all subse- 
quent investigations, besides bringing to light a great 
variety of facts which are obscured above the line by 
the complicated movements of the ice during various 
episodes of advance and retreat. The irregularity of 
the line traced can be studied on any of the maps 
showing the limits of glaciation in America. 



Significance of Glacial Phenomena 151 



CHAPTER VI 

SIGNIFICANCE OF GLACIAL PHENOMENA 

The work of determining the glacial boundary 
west of the Mississippi has been carried on by a num- 
ber of field workers; but I have familiarized myself 
with the greater part of the ground, so that I have 
personal knowledge of the field nearly everywhere 
across the continent. Since the determination of the 
southern boundary of the entire glaciated area in 
North America, an immense amount of expert work 
has been done by a large number of investigators in 
all the region between the boundary and the North 
Pole. No other scientific subject has so continued to 
occupy investigators, and to interest the public, as this^ 
has done. 

Especially productive have been the investigations of 
Robert Bell, G. Bownocker, A. P. Brigham, Samuel 
Calvin, R. Chalmers, T. C. Chamberlin, A. T. Cole- 
man, W. O. Crosby, W. M. Davis, G. M. Dawson, 
B. K. Emerson, H. L. Fairchild, Gerard Fowke, G. 
K. Gilbert, A. W. Grabau, O. H. Hershey, C. H. 
Hitchcock, J. F. Kemp, Joseph LeConte, Frank Lev- 
erett, E. H. Mudge, Miss Luella A. Owen, Harry 



152 Story of My Life 

F. Reid, I. C. Russell, R. D. Salisbury, J. W. Spencer, 

G. H. Stone, R. S. Tarr, F. B. Taylor, W. G. Tight, 
J. E. Todd, J. B. Tyrrell, Warren Upham, E. H. 
Williams, N. H. Winchell, and J. B. Woodworth. 

The expectations of the Western Reserve Histori- 
cal Society in promoting the interests to which they 
were devoted, w T ere amply met. The determination 
of the limits of ice extension across the Mississippi 
Valley brought to light a large number of localities 
in which the conditions were similar to those in north- 
ern France and in Trenton, New Jersey, where pa- 
laeolithic implements had been found, so that local 
observers w r ere induced to be on the lookout for sim- 
ilar discoveries here. These localities were on those 
streams through which the enormous floods accom- 
panying the final melting of the ice poured forth, de- 
positing gravel terraces far above the reach of any 
present floods. In almost every instance these ter- 
races are nearly one hundred feet above tfie present 
flood plains of the streams. In due time implements 
were found in these undisturbed gravels, by Mr. Sam 
Houston at Brilliant, near Steubenville, in the gravel 
terrace on the Ohio River; by Mr. W. C. Mills, the 
present accomplished Curator of the Ohio State 
Archaeological and Historical Society, at New Com- 
erstown, on the Tuscarawas River; and by Dr. C. L. 
Metz, Professor Putnam's colaborer, at Loveland and 



Significance of Glacial Phenomena I 53 

Madisonville on the Little Miami River, a short dis- 
tance above Cincinnati. Later, similar discoveries 
were made by Miss Babbitt on the Mississippi River at 
Little Falls, Minnesota ; while human bones, in sim- 
ilar deposits, have been found on the Missouri River 
at Lansing, Kansas, and at Florence, a little above 
Omaha, Nebraska. 

One of my discoveries, which attracted most atten- 
tion, was, that the ice crossed the Ohio River at Cin- 
cinnati and formed a dam five hundred feet high, 
sufficient to raise the water enough to submerge Pitts- 
burgh three hundred feet, though several hundred 
miles distant. This discovery was first presented at 
the meeting of the American Association for the Ad- 
vancement of Science at Minneapolis in 1883, where 
Professor I. C. White furnished facts concerning the 
horizontal clay terraces extending for a hundred miles 
up the Monongahela River south of Pittsburgh, indi- 
cating standing water there at the height supposed. 
When this evidence was presented it brought Profes- 
sor Lesley to his feet to express his delight that at last 
evidence had been produced to establish such an ob- 
struction to the drainage of the Ohio Valley. He 
said that several years before he had observed high- 
level terraces in the streams west of the Alleghany 
Mountains and had attributed them to a general sub- 
sidence of the whole region, permitting ocean waters 



154 Story of My Life 

to form shore lines at that elevation on the flanks of 
the mountains. But later, on finding that there were 
no such high-level terraces on the eastern flanks of the 
Alleghanies, he had been compelled to abandon his 
theory, and to cancel all that he had written about 
them. Since then he had been looking for some ex- 
planation, and " now," said he, " Providence has pro- 
vided it and Wright's dam will explain everything.' 1 
This endorsement gave the Cincinnati dam a notoriety 
that has been somewhat embarrassing, since it raised 
extravagant expectations of finding its shore lines all 
along up the Ohio Valley. As these did not every- 
where appear, there was a tendency to discredit the 
dam altogether. But such negative testimony was not 
of much value, since the dam was obviously of rather 
short continuance. 

But most important of all were the modifications of 
the original theory, arising from facts which came to 
light concerning the formation of the channel of the 
present Ohio River. It appeared that the original 
drainage of the upper Ohio, and its tributaries above 
Pittsburgh, was into the St. Lawrence Valley to the 
north; so that when the glacial ice in its southern 
progress reached the highlands of Pennsylvania and 
Ohio, the drainage was reversed, — temporary dams 
raising the water high enough to run over the cols 
between the ramifying tributaries, and, after wear- 



Significance of Glacial Phenomena [55 

ing them down, to produce the present tortuous chan- 
nel of the Ohio. Thus it became apparent that the 
clay terraces on the Monongahela described by I. C. 
White were the result of the damming up of the out- 
lets of the original Allegheny and the Monongahela 
River, causing the w T ater to stand at the level of those 
terraces until the cols separating their valleys from 
those farther down were lowered sufficiently to con- 
stitute a continuous channel. This, how r ever, does 
not do away with the Cincinnati dam. For when at' 
last the ice reached Cincinnati and crossed over into 
Kentucky, as all agree that it did, there was a dam 
there, though of shorter duration than that in the up- 
per portions of the valley. The ice dam at Cincinnati 
still remains one of the most spectacular of the phe- 
nomena of the great Ice age in North America. 

My report to the Western Reserve Historical So- 
ciety, on " The Glacial Boundary in Ohio, Indiana 
and Kentucky" was published in 1884. After that, 
1 was commissioned by the United States Geological 
Survey to complete the survey to the Mississippi 
River, to revise as much of my previous work as w r as 
necessary, and to publish the whole results as a Gov- 
ernment document. This appeared in 1890 as Bul- 
letin No. 58, and was entitled " The Glacial Bound- 
ary in Western Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, In- 
diana, and Illinois." 



156 Story of My Life 

In 1886, through the advice of Mr. Elisha Gray, 
of electrical fame, who partly bore the expense of the 
expedition, I went to Alaska and spent a month at 
the foot of the great Muir Glacier. I had as com- 
panions my classmate Rev. J. L. Patton and S. 
Prentiss Baldwin, a youth of seventeen years, in 
rather delicate health. With Mr. Baldwin this was 
the beginning of a lifelong friendship and cooperation 
in geological studies. The Muir Glacier had been 
'discovered a few years before by Mr. John Muir in 
company with Rev. Mr. Young, a Presbyterian mis- 
sionary. At the time of our visit, tourist steamers 
had for two or three years been going up to the glacier 
to remain a few hours and then return. We were 
the first to spend any length of time in studying it. 
It was four years later that any one else visited it 
(or any other Alaskan glacier) to give it scientific 
attention, so that we had a monopoly of knowledge 
on the subject for that time, which proved of great 
advantage to me. 

Two incidents having no bearing on our scientific 
investigations, nevertheless made such an impression 
on me that I cannot forbear mentioning them. Mr. 
Baldwin was a member of the Agassiz Club, and so 
w T as averse to killing any birds except for scientific 
purposes. But he thought it proper to collect speci- 
mens of birds to stuff for a museum. One morning 



Significance of Glacial Phenomena 1 57 

I saw him trying to shoot some of the small birds 
that flitted about our tent; but was surprised to see 
the birds abandon their resting place and light on the 
gun that was aimed at them, so little did they know 
of the cruel nature of the beings that were for the 
first time visiting the region. This was too much for 
Air. Baldwin. He let the confiding little creatures 
live, and put up his gun without any further attempts 
to stock a museum. 

The other incident related to a Creed, which we 
drew out of our uneducated Indian helper named 
Jake. We had two Indians to help us, one, named 
Jackson, who could speak English indifferently, and 
so could interpret Jake's language for us. We en- 
deavored to rest on Sunday, and went through the 
formality of some sort of a religious service each 
week. On one of these occasions we drew from Jake 
his religious creed, which, as interpreted by Jackson, 
was as follows : — 

1. I believe that God is the Boss of us fellers, and 
ever}) man all. 

2. I believe that God loves us fellers and every 
man all. 

3. I feel in my heart that I love God. I love my 
brother, my sister, every man all. 

4. I w r ish every man loved Jesus, then he good, no 
bad, no fight. 



158 Story of My Life 

Jake had made no profession of religion, but this 
much he had absorbed from the godly life of a mis- 
sionary (Rev. Mr. Corleis, of Philadelphia), who 
had spent a single winter with his tribe in southeastern 
Alaska. We have recommended this creed for in- 
corporation in future revisions of the Presbyterian 
Confession. 

The facts which we collected concerning the Muir 
Glacier proved to be of the greatest interest and im- 
portance, for the light which they shed on theories 
concerning the Glacial epoch. At that time this was 
the largest glacier, outside of Greenland, which had 
been carefully observed, and at once threw into the 
shade all that had been inferred from the diminutive 
Alpine glaciers. The Muir Glacier presented a front 
more than a mile in width where it entered the head 
of Muir Inlet, and this was perpendicular in height, 
more than 300 feet above the water, while the depth 
of the water, as near the front as the captain dared 
to sound, was 700 feet, thus presenting a face 1,000 
feet high and a mile in width, which w^as being pushed 
forward to break off in icebergs of immense size. The 
calving of each iceberg was accompanied by a tre- 
mendous detonation, which reverberated from the lofty 
mountain side with majestic effect. The noise of 
these reports was almost continuous. Our measure- 
ments established a rate of motion in the center of the 



Significance of Glacial Phenomena 159 

glacier, which exceeded anything found elsewhere 

outside of Greenland. Moreover, we collected evi- 
dence that the front of the glacier had withdrawn 
more than twenty miles in the hundred years which 
had elapsed since Vancouver visited the region in the 
latter part of the eighteenth century. My inferences 
on this point were amply sustained by Professor H. F. 
Reid, who studied the glacier and the region round 
about, four years after my visit. Moreover, from 
surveys made twenty-five years later, it appeared that 
the recession of the front has continued at about the 
same rate which we had inferred for the previous 
century. In 1 909 the front was seven miles and a 
half farther back than it was in 1886 when my photo- 
graphs were made, while the surface had been lowered, 
by melting, 700 feet. These facts, as they become 
known and appreciated, cannot help having great in- 
fluence in modifying current theories about the time 
w T hich has elapsed since the ice retired from the 
glaciated area in the United States and Canada. 



160 Story of My Life 



CHAPTER VII 

RECEPTION OF MY GLACIAL VIEWS 

On my return from the Muir Glacier I was in- 
vited to give a course of eight lectures before the 
Lowell Institute in Boston, the subject being " The 
Ice Age in North America/' This at once gave me 
opportunity to collect all the material which had ac- 
cumulated during the fifteen years that I had been 
pursuing the subject, and the liberal honorarium (one 
thousand dollars) given, furnished me means to go 
on with further investigations. The lectures met with 
a very warm reception, being attended by large au- 
diences throughout. Soon after, Mr. Warren Up- 
ham, with whom I had been associated so long and 
intimately in glacial studies, wrote me that for some 
time he had cherished the plan of writing a book on 
the Glacial epoch in America. "But now," he said, 
11 it is evident that your observations have covered a 
so much wider field, that you are the one to write the 
book, and I will cooperate with you to the extent of 
my ability." This most generous proposition could 
but be highly appreciated, especially as at that time 
Mr. (now Doctor) Upham had been for several years 



Reception of My Glacial I lews [61 

studying the glacial phenomena in Minnesota and 
adjoining territory, while a member of the geological 

survey of that State, so that he had a more detailed 
knowledge of a large section of the glaciated area than 
anyone else had. It was thus a great advantage that 
1 could associate him with me in the volume which 
I set out to prepare, by revising and enlarging my 
Lowell Institute lectures. 

" The Ice Age in North America and its Bearings 
on the Antiquity of Man " was published by D. Ap- 
pleton and Company in 1889. It formed a book 
of nearly 700 octavo pages, and w^as put on the mar- 
ket at five dollars a volume. It met with a large sale 
at once, and successive editions were called for from 
time to time, permitting the incorporation of such new- 
material as seemed important. The fifth edition was 
issued in 191 1. This was thoroughly revised and 
considerably enlarged, among the additions being a 
bibliography giving the titles of articles that had been 
published on the subject in the scientific journals since 
the first edition appeared. Thirty closely printed 
pages are required for this bibliography. The book 
aimed to meet both the scientific and popular want, 
and many things indicate that it has done this fairly 
well. This the very sale itself would indicate. But 
two instances of the use of the book furnish interesting 
confirmation of the fact. 



1 62 Story of My Life 

A friend of mine was riding from Buffalo to Al- 
bany with a Chicago drummer, and got into con- 
versation with him about the scenery through which 
they were passing. The drummer had a good many 
remarks to make that showed knowledge of the coun- 
try, but he said he was sorry he did not have his 
guidebook with him, which it appeared was Wright's 
" Ice Age in North America," which he ordinarily 
carried for the interesting light it shed on the scenery 
of all the northern part of the United States. 

In 1 90 1, when my son and I had reached Petro- 
grad in our trip across Siberia and Central Asia, we 
were told by the geologists there that it was important 
for us to visit Kiev, to see the human relics which 
Professor Armaschevsky had recently found deeply 
buried beneath the glacial deposits. We therefore 
turned aside on our way to Odessa, and visited Kiev 
without any notice of our intentions having been 
sent to the Professor. On reaching the city we found 
our way to the university, where several thousand 
students were gathered, and, on inquiring for Profes- 
sor Armaschevsky, were shown to the museum, where, 
after the door was opened, we were directed to a 
tall man at work among fossils behind a counter. On 
approaching him and giving him my card with simply 
my name and address on it, he, after scanning it closely, 
without a word, turned around and took down " The 



Reception of My Glacial Views 163 

Ice Age in North America," and laid it before me. 
This was his introduction ; for, though he could read 
English, he could not speak it. Suffice it to say that 
he immediately secured an interpreter, and put him- 
self at our service for the remainder of the day. 

My travels have been somewhat extensive since my 
exploration of the Muir Glacier; and, it is needless 
to say, have all been arranged to gather facts bearing 
on the Glacial epoch, though the incidental oppor- 
tunities to enlarge the general horizon of my mental 
vision have been about as great as if that had been 
the sole object of travel in foreign lands. The col- 
lege authorities soon after so arranged my teaching 
term that I had five or six months at my disposal for 
outside work. This time I scrupulously devoted to the 
field of investigation which had opened itself before 
me, and which, I may say, was not merely scientific, 
but the harmony of science and the Bible, my avoca- 
tion having attained such manifest importance that in 
1892 a special chair was provided for me under the 
title of the Harmony of Science and Revelation. 

The summer of 1890 was spent in the Rocky 
Mountains and on the Pacific Coast in company with 
Mr. Prentiss Baldwin. I was induced to take this 
trip at the suggestion of Charles Francis Adams, who 
was then president of the Union Pacific railroad. 
He had been on a visit to the Muir Glacier, and took 



164 Story of My Life 

with him my " Ice Age in North America." On his 
return he stopped off with his staff at Nampa on the 
Oregon Short Line, near Boise City. The party ar- 
rived there a few days after a remarkable discovery 
of a small, well-shaped, though imperfect, clay figu- 
rine, had been made by Mr. M. A. Kurtz while driv- 
ing a well through a thin coating of lava, and about 
three hundred feet of sand, clay, and quicksand. This 
object was taken with his own hands from the bailer 
as it came from the bottom of the six-inch hole which 
had been driven. Suffice it to say that Mr. Adams 
and several officers of the road who were with him, 
who from their training constituted the best jury that 
could be obtained by any process of selection, and who 
knew all the parties engaged and made all possible 
inquiries at the time, were sure that there could be no 
mistake about the reported facts. Their interest in 
the discovery was such that Mr. Adams wrote to me 
about it and told me that if I would go out there and 
prosecute further investigations he would give me a 
pass for myself and an assistant over the entire rail- 
road system of which he was president. Accordingly 
Mr. Baldwin and I set out on a most interesting and 
enlightening expedition. We entered Yellowstone 
Park from the west, and camped out with the aid of 
a single guide while making the tour of the park. 
After passing south to the then unfrequented Jack- 



Reception of My Glacial Views 165 

son's Hole, where the Snake River takes its rise, and 
over the Teton Mountains, we followed leisurely 
down the lava-covered plains of the Snake River Val- 
ley, past Shoshone Falls (where we stayed several 
days), till we reached Nampa. There we found 
everything to confirm the conclusions of Mr. Adams 
concerning the Nampa figurine and its significance. 

During the remaining part of the season we visited 
the lower Columbia River, and, going down to Cali- 
fornia, drove through to the Yosemite from Sonora. 
At Sonora w T e had unusual opportunities to verify the 
reports which Professor J. D. Whitney had brought 
back concerning the discoveries of human relics be- 
neath the lava deposits under Table Mountain. We 
also secured there, on the best of evidence, facts about 
the discovery of a small lava mortar for the grinding of 
grain and nuts, which has played quite a part in subse- 
quent discussions. This was finally given to us, and is 
now the property of the Western Reserve Historical 
Society in Cleveland, Ohio. The genuineness of the 
Nampa figurine was amply supported by the exami- 
nation to which it was submitted after it was brought 
to the notice of Professor F. W. Putnam and others 
at the East. 

The determination of its antiquity, and that of the 
discoveries under Table Mountain in California, de- 
pends on theories concerning the date of the great 



1 66 Story of My Life 

lava flows which cover vast areas over the Pacific 
slope. Every investigator of note who has visited the 
region has been compelled to assign to these deposits 
a very recent date, geologically speaking. Indeed, it 
is evident that very extensive lava flows have poured 
over the Snake River plains within a few hundred 
years, while extensive volcanic outbursts of Lassen 
Peak in California, in 1890 and again in 1914, have 
confirmed Professor J. S. Diller's inference that within 
two hundred years at least there had been other ex- 
tensive lava flows in that region, though there had 
been no tradition of it among the inhabitants. Indeed, 
such a high authority as the late Alexander Winchell 
has maintained that there was some causal connection 
between these great lava flows on the Pacific Coast 
and the Glacial epoch. Hundreds of thousands of 
square miles there are covered with recent lava, in 
some places thousands of feet in thickness. To ac- 
count for these vast eruptions, Winchell surmised 
that the weight of the glacial ice over the eastern part 
of the continent by its pressure squeezed the lava out 
of great vents, which were opened by it over the 
Rocky Mountain region, and so brought the latter 
part, at least, of the lava flows within the Glacial 
epoch. But, however this may be, the facts indicate 
a very recent date both for the glacial conditions in 
the Rocky Mountain region and for the volcanic ac- 



Reception of My Glacial Views 1O7 

tivity of which there is so much evidence. The 
specific evidence of the recent date of the deposits In 
which the Nampa figurine was found is so interesting 
that I cannot forbear summarizing it here. 

The efforts to discredit the genuineness of the 
Nampa figurine have been wholly based on unverified 
theoretical considerations. The direct evidence is 
such as to satisfy any one who is accustomed, as Mr. 
Adams and his companions w^ere, to weighing direct 
human testimony. This they considered unassailable. 
But to those w T ho are not familiar with all the evi- 
dence it seems impossible that such a human relic 
should be found in such a place and in such a way. 
I have been compelled, therefore, to repeat that the 
diameter of the sand pump w T as ample, that other 
things larger than the figurine were brought up, and 
that so much material was sucked up from the bottom 
of the hole that it was not the mere problem of hitting 
a mark at a venture three hundred feet below the sur- 
face, but of gathering material in from considerable 
distance all round the bottom of the hole. Adequate 
additional light to remove a priori objections was not 
slow in coming. It came in one of the most instruc- 
tive and spectacular discoveries which have ever been 
made in glacial geology, namely, that concerning the 
past history of Great Salt Lake in Utah, made by 



1 68 Story of My Life 

Dr. G. K. Gilbert of the United States Geological 
Survey. 

Mr. Baldwin and I had found inklings of the dis- 
covery during our trip down the Snake River, while 
at Pocatello. This town lies at the junction of the 
Port Neuf, a very small stream, with the Snake River. 
South from this point, towards Great Salt Lake, the 
land rapidly rises into a mountainous region, but to 
the north the wide lava-covered plain of the Snake 
River Valley spreads out for many miles. What we 
discovered was that Pocatello was built on an im- 
mense bowlder bed, such as would be brought down 
the Port Neuf if there were a powerful stream of 
water flowing through it; while towards the moun- 
tains the bed of the stream had been swept clear of 
the bowlders for a half mile or more. The facts pre- 
sented a puzzle, which we were unable to solve. So 
we laid them aside in our minds and notebooks for 
future light. 

Such light was not long in coming. Mr. Gilbert 
soon after published his Monograph on Lake Bonne- 
ville, which is the name given to the enlargement of 
Great Salt Lake during the Glacial epoch. From 
this it appeared that during that period of greater pre- 
cipitation and smaller evaporation over the region, the 
basin in which Great Salt Lake is situated had filled 
up till the water in it was 1,000 feet higher than it 



Reception of My Glacial Vines \i)<) 

is now, and that it had enlarged its surface till it 
covered 20,000 square miles instead of the 2,000 of 
its present surface. It further appeared that when 
the water in this basin had reached the 1,000-foot 
level it began to run over a dirt dam into the Port 
Neuf towards the Snake River at Pocatello. This 
dam consisted of debris that had been brought by 
mountain streams into the lowest pass separating the 
two valleys, and was 375 feet in thickness, resting on 
a rock shelf 625 feet above the present level of the 
lake. Evidently this dirt dam permitted the water, 
when it overflowed, to open a wide channel so that it 
poured into the Port Neuf in a tremendous torrent. 
Mr. Gilbert calculated that it would require twenty- 
five years for a stream the size of Niagara to draw 
off the upper 375 feet of water in Lake Bonneville, 
that poured through the Port Neuf into the Snake 
River Valley at Pocatello. That is enough. Here 
was the explanation of our bowlder delta at Port 
Neuf, and likewise of the deposits of quicksand and 
clay at Nampa, 250 miles to the west, and at a level 
several hundred feet lower. By these discoveries all 
reasonable theoretical objections were removed. 

Subsequent investigations have raised no new ob- 
jections to the genuineness of the Nampa figurine; on 
the contrary the discovery of a figurine, in a prehis- 
toric cave in southern France, of almost exactly the 



170 Story of My Life 

same type as this, must do much to reconcile even the 
most skeptical to a just recognition of the claims of 
the discovery by Mr. Kurtz in Idaho. As to the 
reported discoveries in California, no doubt has fairly 
been cast on any of them except the Calaveras skull, 
respecting which it appears that in the interval of 
some months during which it lay neglected with others 
outside of Dr. Jones's office it was not identified by 
him, and the wrong skull was sent to Dr. Wyman 
of Harvard University for examination. But that a 
skull was found by Mr. Mattison is still among well- 
established facts. Mr. Baldwin and I had opportu- 
nity to go over the evidence with Mr. Scribner, the 
most important witness, in the course of which inci- 
dental evidence came out which easily accounts for 
the mistake. This I have recounted in the fifth edi- 
tion of my " Ice Age," and elsewhere. So the whole 
question of the antiquity of man as affected by the 
discoveries in California and Idaho is still open, and 
evidence is accumulating that extensive outflows of 
lava on the Pacific slope have occurred at a very re- 
cent date, while Dr. G. F. Becker, one of the most 
capable members of the United States Geological Sur- 
vey, accounts for the long survival of the prehistoric 
animals which were cotemporary w T ith man on the 
Pacific coast, on the theory that it was then a health 
resort for animals, now for human invalids. 



First Visit to Europe 171 



CHAPTER VIII 



FIRST VISIT TO EUROPE 



The summer and part of the autumn of 1892 was 
spent in a visit to the most interesting glaciers and 
glacial fields of Europe, again accompanied by Mr. 
Prentiss Baldwin. The visit was instigated by an in- 
vitation from the Northwest of England Boulder 
Committee, who had their interest aroused by my 
former colaborer, Mr. Henry Carvill Lewis. After 
finishing our joint exploration of the terminal moraine 
in Pennsylvania, Mr. Lewis and his accomplished 
wife went to England to do for Great Britain what 
we had done for Pennsylvania, namely, determine the 
exact limit of the country which had been overrun 
by glacial ice, — a proposition which had been freely 
talked over by us during our joint labors. Mr. Lew T is 
succeeded in arousing great interest in the subject, and 
among other things became an ardent advocate of the 
theory that the molluscan remains found on Moel Try- 
faen in Wales, at Macclesfield, near Birmingham in 
England, and in other places, were evidence not of a 
submergence of the land allowing the oceanic waters 
to cover those heights, but rather of an extension of 



172 Story of My Life 

glacial ice which pushed up before it masses of the clay 
deposits at the bottom of the Irish Sea, carrying with 
them the molluscan remains to be redeposited in strati- 
fied gravel as the ice melted. The height at which 
these shell beds were found in Wales was about 1,400 
feet above sea level, and at Macclesfield 1,200. 

The occurrence of these shell beds had been inter- 
preted by all the older geologists as indicative of a 
postglacial submergence. But before Mr. Lewis's 
visit it had been suggested by Mr. Clement Reid 
that their explanation was that given above. This the 
investigations of Mr. Lewis made a certainty, at least 
to those who properly considered the new evidence. 
The Northwest of England Boulder Committee was 
organized at the suggestion of Mr. Lewis, in order to 
carry on the investigations till the most sceptical 
should be convinced. The invitation to me to visit 
them was a part of their program; for unfortunately 
Mr. Lewis died of typhoid fever w T hen on his way 
back to England to resume his investigations. My 
familiarity with the fields which Lewis had investigated 
in America, and my personal knowledge of his way 
of looking at things, made it seem important that I 
should go over with the Committee some of the typical 
fields in which the best evidence of Lewis's explanation 
was to be found. This was certainly a privilege which 
I could but highly appreciate and I availed myself of 



First Visit to Europe [73 

it with great pleasure. Among the prominent mem- 
bers of the Committee were Percy F. Kendall, C. E. 
DeRance, Clement Reid, George W. Lamplugh, John 
E. Marr, and Rev. Dr. H. W. Crosskey. Pro- 
fessor Kendall was then editing a periodical devoted 
to the discussion of the glacial phenomena of Great 
Britain. 

After visiting various typical places which displayed 
the evidence of the theory, and making a trip to the 
glacial boundary in Holland and to the fields of most 
archaeological interest in France, Belgium, and south- 
ern England, and traversing the most important glacial 
fields in Switzerland and northern Italy, we returned 
to attend the meeting of the British Association which 
met at Cardiff, Wales. Here I read a paper on the 
relation of the Glacial epoch to the question of man's 
antiquity, and the subject was discussed in other papers 
by members of the Committee. Subsequently I pub- 
lished two papers on the glaciation of Great Britain, 
one in the Bulletin of the Geological Society of Amer- 
ica, the other in the American Journal of Science, Al- 
together this summer's trip to Europe was of the 
greatest value to me. 

This was especially evident in. the fact that I there- 
by secured the cooperation of Professor Kendall in 
the preparation of the volume on " Man and the Gla- 
cial Period," which the Appletons published for me 



174 Story of My Life 

late in that year. I had previously been asked to give 
a second course of Lowell Institute lectures in Boston, 
on the " Origin and Antiquity of Man." This volume 
was based on the portion of those lectures which treated 
of glacial man. The chapter in the book which 
treated of the glaciers of Great Britain was generously 
prepared for me by Professor Kendall. His contribu- 
tion extends from page 137 to page 181, and is ac- 
companied by a colored map showing in more detail 
than had been done before, or has been done since, the 
complicated movements of the glaciers of Great Bri- 
tain. An eminent English man of science soon after 
paid me the compliment of using, in a book of his own 
having only twenty-four illustrations, this map to- 
gether with sixteen of my photographic illustrations, 
without the least acknowledgment of the source from 
which they came. The contribution of Mr. Kendall's 
was fifteen years ahead of time, but its conclusions are 
now almost universally accepted. " Man and the Gla- 
cial Period " was incorporated into the International 
Scientific Series, and has had a large circulation, some- 
thing like fifteen thousand copies having been sold, and 
it is still having a steady sale. A second edition was is- 
sued in 1894, with a chapter answering numerous 
criticisms which had appeared. 



Shipwrecked in Greenland 175 



CHAPTER IX 

SHIPWRECKED IN GREENLAND 

In 1894 1 had the privilege of spending a summer 
in Greenland. This was with a party gotten up by 
Dr. Frederick A. Cook, who had won considerable 
reputation for his report on the anthropology of the 
Eskimos as a member of Mr. Peary's first extensive ex- 
pedition to the northern shores of that continent. Our 
party included several men of note, making it very 
instructive and enjoyable. Among the members were 
Mayor George W. Gardner, of Cleveland; Professor 
William H. Brewer, of Yale University; Professor 
L. L. Dyche, of Kansas University; Mr. James D. 
Dewell, afterwards Lieutenant Governor of Connecti- 
cut; Mr. G. W. W. Dove, of my Andover parish; 
Mr. (now Professor) Samuel P. Orth; my son Fred- 
erick, and others. The expedition met with many re- 
verses, but still gave large opportunity for study both 
of the Greenland ice fields, and of the social condi- 
tions which prevail in that little-known land. 

Our ship, the Miranda, was not fitted for contend- 
ing with ice fields, being simply a tramp steamer cov- 
ered with a thin shell of iron. Our first disaster was 



176 Story of My Lift 

to run straight into an iceberg about ten miles off the 
Labrador coast. There was a dense fog so that 
ing could be seen ahead, and the vessel was 
slowly, but with sufficient force to smash in the iron 
plates of our ship, and bring us to a sudden halt. 
Fortunately, the sea was calm, and the injury to the 
ship was above the water line. This was remarkable. 
since icebergs, such as the one encountered by us, 
usually project forward below the water. This one, 
however, did not do so and the whole force of the im- 
pact was felt above the water line. Great masses of 
ice fell upon the deck of the ship, and marks where 
the paint was rubbed off from our prow were clearly 
seen in the berg as we slowly backed off from it. As 
we were only ten or twelve miles from St. Charles 
Harbor on the southeast coast of Labrador, we put in 
safely there and stayed until temporary repairs could 
be made. 

This gave us opportunity to explore the adjoining 
coast, and to visit Battle Harbor, the capital of Labra- 
dor. Nothing could be more uninviting than this 
whole region in summer. What then must it be in 
winter? But it is inhabited by a courageous and law- 
abiding class of settlers, who are ready to welcome the 
throngs of fishermen who come up from Newfound- 
land, in the summer, as the ice permits. The great 
business is to capture the crowds of seal which float 



Shipwrecked in Greenland 177 

down on the ice from the far north. We saw, i 
the skin of a magnificent white bear which had 1 
thus far south with his companions of the seal tribe. 
The bear had come on shore and was trying to make 
his way back to the polar regions from which he came, 
when the deep snows interfered with his progress, and 
he was easily captured, his skin being kept as a sou- 
venir. Battle Harbor was merely a forlorn village on 
an exposed shore, nevertheless it was beginning to be 
made famous by the missionary labors of Dr. Gren- 
fell. Our experience in subsequently coasting along 
the shore gave us a good idea of the character or his 
philanthropic work, especially in the role ot physician. 
Everywhere we were met by fishermen who had been 
disabled and were in need of medical assistance which 
their associates were unable to give. 

After making temporary repairs it was necessary tu 
return to St. John's, Newfoundland, to make such 
further repairs as were necessary if we continued our 
voyage to the north. This done, we worked our way 
slowly through the magnificent icebergs, which glis- 
tened in the sunshine from every side, and which rose 
up from the water in every fantastic shape. In variety 
of form and beauty of color the cathedrals of Europ? 
could not bear a comparison. The shallow ice floes 
interfered with our reaching the coast of Greenland, 



178 Story of My Life 

until we were opposite the picturesque bay on which 
Sukkertoppen is situated. This we entered, passing 
the innumerable islands, with which it is dotted, al- 
though to enter w r as contrary to law; for, in order to 
protect the natives from the corrupting influences of 
visitors from civilized nations, the Danish government 
has been compelled to prohibit all intercourse with the 
outside world except as under their official super- 
vision. But, as we were in need of assistance and re- 
pairs, we were allowed to steam in and tie up to a 
huge iron ring, w T hich w T as fastened to the rocky prec- 
ipice guarding the settlement. 

The two or three days of our stay gave opportunity 
for a portion of our party to make a trip up the South 
Isortok Fiord, which penetrates the coast about fifty 
miles, and is bordered by extensive moss-covered areas 
which furnish pasture for herds of reindeer. In the 
summer these fields are very attractive to the Eskimo, 
and they resort to them to spend a month or two in 
fishing and hunting, bringing with them on their re- 
turn supplies for winter consumption. This expedi- 
tion gave us our first view of the " ice blink " oc- 
casioned by the reflection of the sunshine from the 
continental ice sheet, which covers the interior over an 
area of 500,000 square miles. Our expedition did 
not take us quite up to the ice margin, but we had 
abundant evidence of its proximity, by the extent to 



Shipwrecked in Greenland ij<j 

which the water was discolored by the " glacial milk " 
which issued from the streams at the foot of the prj- 
jecting tongues of ice coming into the inlet from every 
side, as well as at its head. In front of one of these 
glacier tongues we debarked after spending one night 
sleeping on the luxurious bed of moss w T hich formed 
our resting place. The scene w T as far from being 
desolate. Birds in innumerable numbers flew over us. 
Mosquitoes in dense swarms fell dow r n on us and made 
life unendurable. But the scenery was so entrancing 
that it was with a pang of regret that we started back 
for our boat. 

On reaching Sukkertoppen again, we found the 
steamer all ready for a fresh start for the far north. 
But, alas, in trying to find our way through the maze 
of islands and reefs, w r hich fill the bay at low tide and 
are but partially revealed at high tide, w T e ran on one 
of the reefs and severely injured the bottom of our 
boat! How seriously we were damaged no one could 
tell. So there was nothing for us to do but get back 
to the harbor if that were possible. Fortunately we 
succeeded, and tied the Miranda again to the stout 
iron ring which hung from the rocky precipice at the 
entrance of the harbor. On examination it was de- 
cided that it was not safe to venture out to sea with 
her, and that w r e must seek some other way of getting 
home. In short we were shipwrecked on the inhos- 



180 Story of My L 

pitable Greenland coast. Dr. Cook, however, was 
equal to the occasion, and the versatility and courage 
which he showed in rescuing us, has ever since made 
us have confidence in his statements concerning his ac- 
complishments in seeking the North Pole and in 
climbing Alt. McKinley. On learning that there was 
a Gloucester fishing schooner near Holstenberg, one 
hundred miles, or more, north of us, Dr. Cook at once 
called for a few volunteers and started off in an open 
boat to wend his way along the coast in search of the 
help which this might afford us. It was estimated 
that he could not return for about two weeks. This 
gave me opportunity to organize an expedition for the 
survey of Ikamiut Fiord, twenty miles to the north, 
into which a tongue of the inland ice projected. But, 
before starting, we all wrote letters home telling our 
friends of our catastrophe, and that we were comfort- 
ably situated and if we did not get home this year we 
could be expected next year. These letters we dis- 
patched by kayaks to Ivigtut, three hundred miles dis- 
tant, at the southern extremity of Greenland, where 
we hoped they would arrive in time for the last vessel 
that would sail for Denmark. These letters arrived at 
their destination about two months after we did. 

Our expedition to Ikamiut Fiord met all my ex- 
pectations in even- way. We saw southern Green- 
land at its best, and worst. We clambered over the 



Shipwrecked in Greenland 1S1 

tongue of the glacier that projected into the head of 
the fiord. We saw where it pushed up upon the point 
of the promontory which separated Ikamiut Fiord from 
Sermilik Fiord (which leads directly down to Sukker- 
toppen), the ice behaving exactly as a flood of water 
w^ould do when meeting a similar obstacle only as mod- 
ified by the diminished fluidity of ice. We studied 
with interest the difference between the appearance of 
the northern slope of the mountain range which shut 
the fiord in on the south, and that of the southern slope 
of the opposite range, from w T hich the glaciers had en- 
tirely disappeared. We saw T the millions on millions 
of birds which nested in the clefts of the rocks border- 
ing either side of the fiord, and saw native hunters go 
out in kayaks and scare the birds up from their feeding 
places and w T ith primitive weapons bring them down in 
sufficient quantities for their needs. I cannot conceal 
my delight on learning that my exploration of this re- 
gion was thought of sufficient importance to lead the 
Danish map makers who followed soon after, to give 
my name to the nunatak (mountain peak) projecting 
above the glacial ice w^hich comes down to the head of 
the fiord. So I am in doubt whether to choose Wright 
Mountain in Alaska or Wright Nunatak in Green- 
land for my burial place, since either of them would 
be the noblest and most enduring monument one could 
desire for his last resting place. 



182 Story of My Life 

The insight which this visit to Greenland gave me 
into the political, social, and religious conditions which 
prevail there, was among the most valuable of all the 
results of the trip. At Sukkertoppen we found in the 
Danish officials and their families one of the most cul- 
tivated companies of Europeans that it has ever been 
my fortune to meet. The company consisted of Mr. 
Bistrup, the governor, and his wife; Mr. Bauman, the 
assistant governor, and his wife; three children of the 
Bistrups; and Miss Fausboll, the daughter of the Pro- 
fessor of Sanscrit in the University of Copenhagen, 
who was the governess of the children. These had 
charge of four hundred or more natives who lived in 
small settlements along the shore, and gathered, in 
larger numbers, about the residence of the officials. 
The natives lived largely on the products of the land, 
namely, fish, birds, eggs, the blubber of seal, and the 
half-digested contents of the seals' stomachs. The of- 
ficials had all their food except the meat brought from 
Denmark, and they were compelled to keep two years' 
stores on hand, to provide against an occasional inter- 
ruption of communication for a season. A small gar- 
den, made rich with soil brought from Denmark, en- 
abled them to raise a few radishes and some other such 
vegetables, to a limited extent. But the warmly pro- 
tected house was a center of European culture such 
as only highly educated women can make. There was 



Shipwrecked in Greenland 183 

a piano, there were violins and other musical instru- 
ments, all of which could be played upon with skill 
and effect. There were books and magazines in sev- 
eral languages, among them many in English. Hence 
the long season of nearly eight months, when there 
was no communication with the outside world, was 
filled with congenial cultivation of the higher tastes 
with which nature has endowed mankind. 

In every year but one since our visit I have ex- 
changed letters with some member of this interesting 
colony. The exception was when ice prevented the in- 
coming ship from home to return before the next year. 
The children that Miss Fausboll was tutoring and two 
other members of the family, who were away when we 
were there, have become members of the Danish serv- 
ice in Greenland, or have entered and risen to high 
position in the Danish Navy. The Governor and his 
wife, after thirty years of devoted service to the inter- 
ests of their Eskimo wards, returned to Copen- 
hagen on a pension to spend their declining years in en- 
joyment of the rich opportunities for gratifying their 
cultivated tastes, which the capital of Denmark affords. 
The Century Magazine published, in September, 191 1, 
a most interesting article from Mrs. Bistrup, on the 
Eskimo Women. 

The native Eskimos have nearly all been converted 
to Christianity, partly through Moravian missionaries, 



184 Story of My Life 

but more extensively through the efforts of Lutheran 
clergymen who have accompanied the Danish officials. 
But now the Moravians have retired from the field 
and left the whole work to the Danes. The results of 
the efforts to civilize and Christianize the natives are 
very interesting. It has been impossible to make much 
change in the general manner of life among the peo- 
ple; for the problem of how to meet the trying condi- 
tions under which life can be maintained in that in- 
hospitable land had been pretty well solved by the 
natives before the whites took charge of them. They 
are still most comfortable in their sod-covered " igloos." 
They are still kept warm by clothing of sealskin and 
by* vests of eider down worn next to the skin, and their 
igloos are warmed and lighted by lamps fed with the 
blubber of the seal. They still have community of 
ownership in many of the necessities of life, the most 
conspicuous exception being the pieces of wood which 
are thrown upon the shore by the waves of the sea. 
When such a prize has been found and placed in safety 
above the reach of the tide, it is regarded as the most 
sacred piece of private property. No greater crime can 
be committed than to steal such a piece of wood. And 
well may this be so : for all the wood they have for 
making the frames of their boats, and for handles to 
their spears and harpoons, is obtained from this supply 
thrown up by the waves ; and this has floated all the 



Shipwrecked in Greenland I S 5 

way from Siberia, past the North Pole, and around 
the northern shores of the continent itself. 

A Sunday service at Ikamiut told volumes as to the 
influence of the Christian missionaries over the natives. 
It was a rainy morning, so that we could scarcely ven- 
ture out of our tent, thus enforcing on my party a 
stricter observance of the Sabbath than could have been 
secured if the weather had been propitious. While we 
were eating our frugal breakfast of griddle cakes, 
slowly and imperfectly cooked on a recalcitrant oil 
stove, a lean, short man, clothed in skins, came to the 
door of the tent and pointed to a book which he had 
in his hand, and after making various signs as if some- 
thing was going on near the boat landing, went aw T ay 
and w T e could see no more of him. A little later, on 
going down to the boats to look after them, I heard 
the sound of voices proceeding from one of the mounds 
of earth which we were told were the houses in which 
the colony lived. Following the direction of the 
sound, I got down upon my hands and knees and, push- 
ing my head against a small w T ooden door, found my- 
self in an outer room, w T hich was protecting the main 
room to the right. Turning in that direction and 
pushing my head against another small door, I dis- 
covered the whole colony, of about twenty persons, 
gathered for a Sunday-morning religious service. On 
crawling through the door, a place was made for me 



i So Story of My Life 

to sit on the foot of the low sleeping shelf, by turning 
up the furs which served for bedding. Meanwhile the 
services proceeded without interruption. They were 
singing an Eskimo hymn to a slow German choral, the 
words of which, of course, I could not understand. 
But the tune was one which, a few years before, I had 
heard sung by the vast congregation which weekly 
gathers in the Cologne Cathedral. 

After the hymn, the wizen-faced little man who had 
vainly summoned us to worship as we were eating 
breakfast, read what I suppose was a prayer, the 
phrases " Christ's sake " and " amen " being the only 
familiar words. Then followed what I suppose was 
a sermon, the only indication to my mind being the 
strict attention which the audience gave to the reader. 
Then followed another hymn, sung to another German 
choral that had a very familiar sound. Thus ended 
the morning service in that dismal igloo on that dismal 
Sunday. How it would have cheered the heart of 
Hans Egede, if he could have foreseen the influence 
here exhibited of his devoted but disappointing efforts 
to win the Eskimos to Christianity two hundred years 
before ! 

But now they are all nominally Christian, observing 
all the Christian ordinances, and sharing with the most 
enlightened and prosperous nations the last consola- 
tions of the Christian faith, the road to heaven being 



Shipwrecked in Greenland 187 

as short from Greenland as from the most cultivated 
centers of civilization. The Eskimos have a literature 
of their own, and publish a paper, which has general 
circulation. All this is certainly to the credit of the 
Danish officials who protect ^them from the demoraliz- 
ing influence of the offscouring of civilized nations if 
they were permitted free access to their shores. Here, 
certainly, is a lesson in " home rule," or rather one to 
show the limitations of that much vaunted principle of 
many reformers. Races as well as individuals have 
their infancy. 

Soon after returning to our ship from our ten-day 
expedition to Ikamiut Fiord, a small fishing schooner, 
of about one hundred tons' capacity, hove in sight, with 
Dr. Cook and his party on board. This was the 
" Rigel," under command of Captain George W. 
Dixon, of Gloucester, Massachusetts. He had been 
out all summer, fishing: first, off the coast of Iceland; 
and later, where he was found one hundred miles north 
of us, on the Greenland coast. His success had been 
rather indifferent, and he was about to start for home 
when hailed by Dr. Cook. With the generous in- 
stincts of a sailor, he did not hesitate a moment in com- 
ing to our relief. On reaching the Miranda and see- 
ing the situation, he threw overboard all his fishing 
tackle, and every article of furniture, leveled the fish 



l88 Story of My Life 

in the hold and, after covering them with the salt in 
the ship, spread canvas over all to provide a place in 
which our party could sleep. 

There were about forty of us tourists, so that we 
were pretty well crowded when all were transferred 
to the Rigel. But it w r as decided that it was not sate 
for the Miranda to attempt to cross Baffin Bay alone. 
However, it ventured to take the Rigel in tow with 
all of us on board. Everything proceeded well until 
midnight of the second day, when w T e were about three 
hundred miles from harbor. Then a signal of distress 
was sounded from the Miranda, and Captain Dixon's 
voice was heard ordering all passengers to keep below, 
and all hands to come on deck. I disregarded the 
order to stay below, and so was permitted to witness 
a scene such as can never be blotted out of memory. 
The Miranda was rolling heavily in the trough of a 
rough sea, showing by turns the red color with which 
her bottom was painted. Meanwhile the captains were 
exchanging signals. Captain Farrell, on the Miranda, 
asked our captain to come up close and take off his 
crew. Captain Dixon replied, " I w T on't do it. I am 
near enough now. If you go down you will draw us 
with you. Put off your boats and come alongside." 

Meanwhile we were bound to the Miranda by a 
stout hawser eight hundred feet long. But our cap- 
tain had a man stand ready with an axe to cut this if 



Shipwrecked in Greenland i 8<) 

the Miranda should sink. It seemed an age before the 
first boatload of the Miranda's crew reached us, and 
then another age before we could get them safely on 
board our vessel ; for their boat would come on the 
crest of a great wave, as if to plunge down upon us, 
and then move off again on top of another wave. The 
futility of securing safety to travelers on the ocean by 
compelling vessels to carry enough small boats to hold 
all the passengers and crew became painfully apparent 
when we saw the difficulty of transferring even thirty 
experienced sailors from one ship to another during a 
storm. But, at length, after three hours of anxious 
effort, all w T ere safe on board the Rigel. The hawser 
was cut, and the Miranda drifted away in the mist and 
darkness with its lights still burning and the steam 
still pouring out of its chimneys. What became of it 
we never knew. We learned two years afterwards 
that the insurance company declined to pay the loss, 
because they had had no official notice that it had sunk. 
None of us saved any of our belongings which were 
left upon it, and we made our way towards home with 
only the clothes we had on our backs. There were 
now ninety of us on board the Rigel, and we filled 
the schooner from stem to stern when we were all on 
deck. Nor did we have an abundant supply of water 
or food. This was the less important to me and some 
others who were desperately seasick all the while. 



190 Story of My Life 

How the cook managed to do his part is something 1 
have never been able to comprehend ; for he had room 
in the forecastle for only fifteen to eat at a time, mak- 
ing it necessary to have six rotations of hungry men 
for each meal. The whole situation tested the char- 
acter of all ; and brought out the weak points of some, 
as well as the admirable qualities of others. The Cap- 
tain and his crew showed to the best advantage. The 
crew were to be sharers in the profits of the fishing 
trip, and two of them were brothers of the Captain. 
It was noticeable that he never gave an absolute com- 
mand to his crew, but would say, " Hadn't you better 
haul down the topsail? Hadn't you better haul up 
the mainsail?" and the topsail came down and the 
mainsail went up, as promptly as if he had given a 
positive order. But the crew of the Miranda had not 
been used to such mild language ; and when he said to 
them at one time when they were smoking in the hold, 
i and thus endangering the vessel, " Hadn't you better 
put your pipes away? It isn't safe to smoke here." 
and they kept on smoking, a thunderstorm was noth- 
ing to what followed. He told them that if they did 
not stop smoking, or were seen to do it again, he would 
throw the whole of them overboard. And they be- 
lieved that he would, and made no more trouble. 

After putting in at two or three ports in Labrador 
for safety during storms, and to get water, we at 



Shipwrecked in Greenland 191 

length, after two weeks, reached Sydney, in Nova 
ta, from which place we could communicate with 
the folks at home, and where the accommodating 
merchants showed no hesitancy in trusting us for new- 
suits of clothing to replace the dilapidated garments 
we had on. We all reached home safe, as I have al- 
ready said, two months before the letters sent from 
Sukkertoppen came. The expedition, though un- 
fortunate in many respects, was by no means a failure. 
It enabled me with more confidence to form conclu- 
sions concerning many problems connected with the 
Glacial epoch. We had opportunity to observe that, 
vast as is the present ice sheet, it was once much 
larger. The grooves and scratches on the mountainous 
border of the continent showed clearly that the ice 
sheet had formerly covered all the border which is now 
inhabitable in southern Greenland. Much was also 
learned about the way in which moraines, eskers, and 
kames w T ere formed. One of the great mysteries, how T - 
ever, remains unsolved. This is connected with the 
existence of reindeer in southern Greenland. How T 
did the species get there? It would seem impossible 
for them to traverse the vast ice fields in northern 
Greenland, which now separate them from any known 
original habitation. This we leave for future light. 

About a year after returning from Greenland, the 



192 Story of My Life 

Applctons published " Greenland Icefields and Life in 
the North Atlantic, with a New Discussion of the 
Causes of the Ice Age." In the preparation of this 
volume Dr. Upham again cooperated with me, he 
writing the chapters dealing with the theoretical prob- 
lems connected with the distribution of plants and ani- 
mals over the continent, and with the stages of the 
glaciation of North America, and the causes of the 
epoch. I still regard his discussion of these topics as 
of the greatest value, and would refer all students of 
the subject to the chapters written by him, for light 
which the} 7 " can get from no other quarter. Unfor- 
tunately the plates of this book were early destroyed 
by fire, so that the volume has not had the circulation 
and the- influence which it deserves. But it can be 
found in a wide range of libraries. 



Theological Studies 1 9 ^ 



CHAPTER X 



THEOLOGICAL STUDIES 



Meanwhile religious and theological problems 
were being thrust continually on my attention. In 
1890, Houghton, Mifflin and Company asked me to 
prepare a life of President Charles G. Finney for their 
American Religious Leaders series. This was pub- 
lished in 1891, and has had a fairly wide sale down to 
the present time. In its preparation I was led to re- 
view thoroughly the literature of the so-called New 
England theology, of which Jonathan Edwards was 
the most noted representative in the early stages of its 
development ; and Professors Edwards . A. Park, of 
Andover, and N. W. Taylor, of New Haven, Presi- 
dent Mark Hopkins, of Williams College, and Lyman 
Beecher and President Finney among the great preach- 
ers, were the later representatives. As this theology 
has so much to recommend it to thoughtful minds, and 
has been so buried out of sight by the vague and jaunty 
speculations of the last few years, it will be profitable 
to give a brief abstract of it, showing how completely 
it satisfies the demands of our reasoning faculties. Fin- 
ney's presentation of this system has the advantage of 



194 Story of My Life 

proceeding from one who had had a thorough legal 
training; and so had command of the lines of argu- 
ment which satisfy men as they are immersed in the 
ordinary task of drawing conclusions from such evi- 
dence as is at hand. As Gladstone has pointed out, 
such a mind is much more likely to reach reasonable 
conclusions than is one whose investigations are in 
some narrow line out of the ordinary region of human 
experience. The demands of the " moral law," as 
revealed in conscience, and the accordance of these de- 
mands with the revelation in the Bible, was a favorite 
theme with Finney in his preaching. At one time as 
he was passing through Rochester. Xew York, and 
stopping over night with a friend, the lawyers of the 
city sent a delegation to him asking that he would 
give them a course of lectures on the moral law.* This 
he did with such effect that the whole body of lawyers 
in the city were not only persuaded of the truth of the 
Biblical plan of salvation, but became active partici- 
pants in the church work of the city. 

As nearly as I can state it in brief. Finney's system 
follows: The fundamental virtue both on the 
part of God and man is love. But this love is not 
mere affection, but an active choice of the " good of 
being " and the devotion of all our activities to its 
promotion. This proposition is arrived at not by -rea- 
soning:, but bv intuition. It is a fundamental affirma- 



Theological Studies 195 

tion of the human mind. The ultimate " good of be- 
ing " consists m the pleasurable feelings and emotions 
connected with sensations of every sort, from those of 
the worm, which we should not needlessly crush be- 
neath our feet, to those of the Divine Being in the 
eternal communings of his nature, and in contempla- 
tion of the creation which he pronounces " good." Be- 
tween these extremes man occupies an intermediate 
place, in the good which he is capable of experiencing. 

The human race is endowed with freedom of will. 
Man has a moral nature. He makes his own char- 
acter. He is to be governed according to his nature. 
His choices cannot be compelled, they must be secured 
by persuasion, if they are to have any character at all. 
To such a kind of government of man, God has 
pledged himself in the very act of creation. 

But it is evident to all that the human race has de- 
parted from its high prerogatives of virtue and plunged 
into a warfare with its higher nature, and is following 
a line of self-indulgence, in disregard of the general 
welfare. The extent of this rebellion against the law 
of right is seen in every man's conscience, which tells 
him that he has in ways without number fallen short 
of his high prerogatives, and done many things which 
he ought not to have done, and left undone many 
things which he ought to have done. There is no man 
but has reason to be ashamed of the mean things both 



1 96 Story of My Life 

in thought and deed which he has done. Further- 
more, the extent of this departure from the law of love 
on the part of all men appears in the universal distrust 
which men, and especially nations, cherish regarding 
each other. The w T hole machinery of human govern- 
ments illustrates the lack of confidence which we have 
in our fellow men. The courts of law, the police, the 
jails, the prisons, the armies and navies of the world, 
and the incalculable miseries of mankind caused by 
" man's inhumanity to man," all show that the whole 
human race is in rebellion against the law of love 
written on every man's heart. 

The remedial system revealed in the Bible is so per- 
fectly adapted to the wants of man, that it bears on its 
very face evidence of its truth. As ruler of mankind 
God is not at liberty to be indifferent to the sin of his 
creatures. In their very creation God has bound him- 
self to restrain them from evil and to promote their 
choices of good so far as he can. This he is doing by 
brandishing a flaming sword to warn them against evil 
(whatsoever a man soweth that shall he reap) and by 
the love displayed in the atoning work of Christ to win 
them back to virtue's path. So clearly were these 
truths pressed home in Finney's preaching, that they 
never failed to produce conviction in the hearts of all 
but the most hardened of his congregations. 

But Finney did not, as many modern apologists are 



Theological Studies 197 

wont to do, rest wholly on this direct evidence of 
adaptation. His legal mind took in all kinds of evi- 
dence. The intellect must be satisfied by the presenta- 
tion of all the arguments for the existence, omnipo- 
tence, omnipresence, and perfect goodness of God ; as 
well as the evidences on w T hich the Bible is shown to 
be a revelation from God. He w r as especially success- 
ful in removing the superficial objections w T hich are 
put forward by critics both to the evidence of the di- 
vine power and goodness in natural theology and to 
the historical character of both the Old and the New 
Testament. Here his legal training showed to great 
advantage. 

It cannot be shown that death in the animal crea- 
tion diminishes the sum of good experienced by them. 
A succession of fresh lives may be better than a pro- 
longation of those already existing. The existence of 
sin is incidental to the possession by his creatures or 
moral freedom. The joy connected with redemption 
doubtless far exceeds the misery which sinners bring on 
themselves. Sin furnishes the occasion for a display 
of divine love w r hich w 7 ould have been impossible with- 
out such an occasion to draw it forth. 

The " New 7 School Calvinism," which lay at the bot- 
tom of all Finney's preaching and writing, is shorn of 
the objections urged against that system in its ultra 
forms. There may be certainty without necessity. It 



198 Story of My Life 

may be certain that a man will commit murder, 
though he acts as a free agent, and is impelled by no 
necessity. It may be certain that motives will prevail 
to induce a benevolent or a sinful choice without in- 
volving any necessity. Thus the divine mind may 
foresee all things in the moral world where necessity 
is excluded, as well as in the physical world where it 
is involved in every step. It is greatly to be desired 
that all preachers and theologians would go through 
the whole question of Christian Evidences as Finney 
taught his pupils and hearers to do. 

Xor did he rest with these generalities of natural 
theology. His defense of the divine authority of the 
Bible was powerful and most convincing. Like Judge 
Greenleaf, he was able to marshal the facts as only a 
lawyer can, and show that according to all the rules 
of evidence which govern us in practical affairs, the 
Bible is an authoritative and genuine revelation from 
God, and its credibility is established by abundant evi- 
dence, both external and internal. After marshaling 
this evidence ("Skeletons of a Course of Theological 
Lectures," Oberlin, 1840, pp. 39-51), he concludes: 

"1. If this testimony does not establish the truth 
and divine authority of the Bible, there is an end of 
attempting to establish anything by evidence. 

"2. If all this testimony can exist and yet the 



Theological Si tidies 1 99 

Bible fail to be true, it is the greatest miracle in the 
universe. 

"3. If the Bible be true, everything is plain, and 
the whole mystery of our existence and circumstances 
is explained. If the Bible is untrue we are all afloat. 
The existence of the universe, the existence, and char- 
acter, and destiny of man, are highly enigmatical, and 
we are left in the most distressing darkness and un- 
certainty, in regard to everything which we need to 
know." 

In 1896 I was invited to give a third course of 
Lowell Institute Lectures, this time on " The Scien- 
tific Aspects of Christian Evidences." These, as re- 
written and enlarged, were published the next year by 
the Appletons, this time without such misgivings about 
lack of interest in the subject as determined their de- 
cision with reference to " The Logic of Christian Evi- 
dences " offered to them sixteen years before. The 
book has had a large and continuous sale up to the, 
present time, and like the other was republished in 
England, and has been used more or less as a text- 
book. As preliminary to a brief presentation of the 
historical evidences on which we accept- the New Testa- 
ment, giving special prominence to the new evidences 
which had been brought to light during the preceding 
decade, successive chapters discuss the Limits of 



200 Story of My Life 

Scientific Thought; The Paradoxes of Science; God 
and Nature; Darwinism and Design; Mediate Mir- 
acles; and what constitutes proof " Beyond Reasonable 
Doubt." In these preliminary discussions the reader 
is made to see that Christian evidence is as really 
scientific as is that of any of the physical sciences, and 
that proof in one case is no more certain than in ths 
other. The mysteries underlying the Christian system 
are no greater than those which underlie every system 
of knowledge. If Darwinism be a true representation 
of the manner in which species have come into exist- 
ence, it only increases the evidence of design ; while 
study of the miraculous accounts in the Old Testament 
indorsed by Christ shows that most of them are plain 
historical accounts of phenomena brought about by 
physical forces which could not have been understood 
or their action foreknown by the men of that time; 
and so the events were really miracles of foreknowl- 
edge, or prophecy. This subject was more fully 
treated in a subsequent book to which I will refer 
later, entitled " Scientific Confirmations of Old Testa- 
ment History." 



J cross Asia 2()I 



CHAPTER XI 



ACROSS ASIA 



Soon after the death of my wife in 1899, my friend 
Mr. S. Prentiss Baldwin, who was so situated that he 
could no longer accompany me on extended excursions, 
came to me and asked what further expedition I most 
wished to take to enlarge my knowledge of the Glacial 
epoch and its archaeological connections. I outlined to 
him one across Asia, substantially as it was made in 
1900. He at once said to me that I might plan for it 
and take my son, Frederick Bennett, along for pro- 
tection and assistance. Furnishing us with abundant 
letters of credit, he bade us Godspeed in the winter, 
and we started by way of New Orleans, over the 
Southern Pacific railroad to California, and thence 
went westward across the Pacific Ocean and Siberia, 
and came home across the Atlantic. The college gen- 
erously gave me a year's leave of absence, which was 
extended to fourteen months, with my salary con- 
tinued. The specific object in view was to determine 
the extent of glaciation in central and northern Asia. 
It had been reported that Siberia, like northern Alaska, 
had never been covered with glacial ice. But the new 



202 Story of My Life 

edition of Geikie's " Great Ice Age " contained maps 
showing supposed glaciated regions in eastern Mon- 
golia and over the Vitim plateau, east of Lake Baikal. 
My expedition was not therefore, as some said, need- 
less; for, although what I found out had been com- 
monly believed before, it had been merely surmised, 
not known. But aside from settling this mooted point, 
the expedition accomplished much more in several di- 
rections, which will appear as an account of it is briefly 
told. 

To see with one's own eyes the wonders of the 
lower Mississippi, and the deserts traversed by the 
Southern Pacific railroad; to clamber over the highest 
mountains of southern California, and to sail out of 
the Golden Horn, were experiences worth while m 
themselves, but were only introductions to rarer and 
more wonderful things awaiting us. We had expected 
to spend a month in the Hawaiian Islands, my friends 
there having planned various excursions, and made ar- 
rangements for a series of lectures on the Glacial 
epoch. But the bubonic plague was raging when our 
steamer reached Honolulu, and no one was permitted 
to land. Therefore we were compelled to lie still in 
the harbor all day and satisfy ourselves with looking 
out on the enchanting scenery which surrounds that 
lovely spot. Some of our friends rowed around in 
sight of the steamer and waved their welcome, but 



J cross Asia 203 

that was all they were permitted to do, and we sailed 
on to the Asiatic coast. 

In due time we landed at Yokohama, to find that 
the missionaries had planned an extensive lecturing 
tour for us throughout Japan. The arrangements, 
however, were left to the Japanese themselves, and 
invitations came in from societies extending from 
Sendai to Okayama. I was to give illustrated lec- 
tures on the Ice Age in North America. The Jap- 
anese furnished lanterns and operators, and an inter- 
preter. At Maebashi, in the interior, w r here I began, 
the women were for the first time permitted to attend 
a public lecture. This w^as given in the high-school 
assembly room, and there were one thousand in the 
audience, as shown by the number of w r ooden shoes 
piled up at the entrance of the hall. A banquet was 
given to us on the following evening, and my son and 
I were placed in the seats of honor. Sixty of the 
prominent citizens paid a dollar a plate to share in 
the festivities. All were seated crosslegged on the 
floor, while beautiful girls brought in the endless 
round of dishes for our refreshment and set them down 
before us one after another. The dishes were mostly 
soups with strong fishy flavors. The guests in general 
had only chopsticks with which to get the soup into 
their mouths, but spoons were very considerately 



204 



Story of My Life 




Across Asia 205 

brought to us, and cushions to relieve our weary limbs. 
On following days we went with the professors of 
geology and natural history to visit the crater of an 
extinct volcano, a few miles away, and during the 
whole stay had before us in full sight an active vol- 
cano, which was showering dust so thickly as to cover 
the whole land with a thin film. But this was com- 
monplace to the Japanese. 

At Sendai three or four lectures were arranged in 
the University hall, and the mayor of the city presided, 
introducing me, so I was told, by saying that he con- 
sidered it a greater honor to preside at such a meeting 
than to be mayor of the city. At the close of my lec- 
tures there, the papers contained articles in high praise 
of me and my work, remarking that it was a wonder- 
ful display of public spirit for a man over sixty years 
of age to circle the globe for the purpose of gathering 
and imparting stores of scientific knowledge. But, 
true to their own principles, they added that it was 
even more wonderful and praiseworthy on the part of 
my son to accompany his father for his protection and 
care. All these lectures in Japan were given without 
charge on my part, or admission fees at the door. But 
in every case presents of rare value were bestowed on 
me. At Sendai it was a painting, of priceless value, 
by one of their old masters, who died before contact 
with the outside world had corrupted their taste, and 



206 Story of My Life 

cheapened their art. This painting reveals more and 
more of suggestive beauty to the eye the longer it is 
studied. 

At Tokyo the lectures were before the National Ed- 
ucation Society, and were attended by a high class of 
citizens and scholars. Here I had the rather annoy- 
ing, or I should say amusing, experience of having my 
lecture, as given in English, understood by a consider- 
able portion of the audience, so that the jokes with 
which the lecture was sparingly interspersed would 
produce two ripples of laughter a short distance apart. 
At Tokyo, I was asked to give a special lecture to the 
ladies of high rank. This introduced me to the in- 
terior of one of the most elegant Japanese houses, 
where the lecture was held. The audience was as dis- 
tinguished and elegant as the house, the daughter of 
the late Tycoon being one of the auditors. I could 
not see but the ladies appreciated the lecture as well 
as the members of the University did. 

Other lectures were given in Yokohama, Kyoto, 
Kobe, Osaka, and Okayama. In every place they were 
received with enthusiasm. The genuineness of their 
appreciation was witnessed by the fact that I am one 
of the three or four foreigners elected to membership in 
the Imperial Education Society of Japan. Altogether 
I had unusual opportunities to get an insight into the 



Across Asia 207 

Japanese efforts to assimilate Western civilization. 
The professors of natural science with whom I came 
in contact, and with whom I made scientific excur- 
sions, were remarkably well-informed respecting the 
geology and natural history of foreign countries as 
w r ell as of their own. They knew the literature of 
European and American science as fully as the average 
professors in those countries know it. This wealth of 
knowledge was associated with a childlike simplicity 
of character that was charming. 

After taking an extended trip with one of the teach- 
ers of geology in Maebashi, I accompanied him in his 
ride on the railroad to his home for a vacation. We 
were much of the time alone together in the car, and 
our ingenuity was taxed to keep up the conversation 
with our imperfect knowledge of each other's language. 
At length my friend took out from his traveling bag 
a carefully wrapped package, which I supposed at first 
to be cigarettes, but instead it was a mouth organ, on 
which he proceeded to play a number of familiar Sun- 
day-school airs. Among them was the old tune that 
I had learned in my childhood, " There is a happy 
land." When he found that I knew the tune, he was 
very anxious to get the words. So I racked my brain 
to recall them. This I did to the extent of at least 
two stanzas, which I carefully wrote out for him. He 



208 Story of My Life 

said he wanted to teach them to his brothers and sis- 
ters whom he was to see on his vacation. 

Speaking of cigarettes reminds me that we were 
there when a vigorous effort was being made to pro- 
hibit their use by the school children. The move be- 
gan a short time before, among the teachers, who 
organized total abstinence societies among the pupils, 
pledging them not to smoke as long as they were in 
school. The. inconsistency of urging this reform while 
the teachers themselves were freely indulging the 
habit, was so apparent that the most of them also took 
the pledge with their pupils. This led to the promul- 
gation of a law prohibiting the use of cigarettes by 
school children. But tobacco was widely used by the 
people in general, and was advertised most profusely 
in every available way. I was impressed by one in- 
cident, showing how the best intentions of reformers 
L sometimes miss the mark. The head of the Japanese- 
American tobacco trust was induced to go into the 
business on this wise. When a young man he was 
taken ill, and while convalescing in a missionary hos- 
pital, was supplied with tracts of various kinds in- 
tended to promote good morals and habits, as well as 
to impart the knowledge of Christianity. Among 
them w r ere a number detailing the evil effects of the 
use of tobacco, of which not the least was its expen- 
siveness. Figures were freely given showing the 



A cross Asia ■ 209 

enormous amount annually spent on the noxious weed. 
These figures impressed him very deeply, and his con- 
clusion was that where there was such a great demand 
there must be an attractive opening for business. Into 
this, therefore, he entered and became immensely pros- 
perous. But he never could forget the favor w T hich the 
tract distributors had bestowed upon him, and so was 
ever afterwards a generous contributor to the mission- 
ary society that had unintentionally directed him to a 
lucrative occupation. 

While in Japan, Baron Rosen, the Russian ambas- 
sador, on learning of our intention to traverse Siberia 
for scientific purposes, requested, through our ambas- 
sador, Mr. Buck, an interview with us. On meeting 
him we found him much interested in America, he 
having been at different times connected with lega- 
tions both of Mexico and of the United States. His 
main object in wishing to see us was to induce us to 
go through Manchuria on our way to Siberia. The 
Chinese Eastern railroad, leading from Port Arthur 
to Harbin, was then only partially built, but the whole 
was under construction, and engineers with their corps 
of assistants w T ere scattered all along the line, so that 
we could safely traverse the country under their pro- 
tection and guidance. He offered to facilitate our 
investigation of the line by giving us letters of intro- 



2IO Story of My Life 

duction and recommendation to Admiral Alexieff, sta- 
tioned at Port Arthur, and then the ranking admiral 
in the foreign fleets in Asiatic waters; and to Colonel 
of Staff SamoieofT, stationed then at Khabarovsk. 
Furnished with these letters (of which more anon) we 
set out for China. 

We had intended to sail on a Japanese steamer 
which went by way of Korea, but as this vessel was 
sunk during a storm, we took one from Nagasaki, by 
way of Shanghai. Nothing could be more entrancing 
than the preliminary sail, from Kobe, through the east- 
ern channel, among its countless islands, with the 
snow-covered cone of Fujiyama rising above the ex- 
tended mountain chain which constitutes the backbone 
of the larger islands forming the western skyline. We 
passed by the mouths of the coal mines at which the 
steamers take their supply of fuel, and had oppor- 
tunity to see the contrast between Japanese methods 
and our own. In Japan the coal is all carried aboard 
in baskets passed along a line from hand to hand, 
women with babes in their arms taking their turns 
indiscriminately with the men. So cheap is labor in 
Japan, that this is the most economical w T ay of loading. 
Besides, they say it is better distributed by this method 
than by machinery. 

After a brief stay in Shanghai, our vessel went along 
as near the shore as the depth of the water permitted, 



A cross J sin 21 1 

to Chefoo. A striking feature of this part of the jour- 
ney is the evidence of the immense amount of sediment 
that is brought into these seas by the great rivers which 
traverse northern China. The Hwangho and the 
Yang-tze-Kiang come down to the sea loaded with 
silt as dense as that in the Missouri or the lower Jor- 
dan. Tin's silt discolors the water out to a distance 
of many miles, and as it settles is producing shallows, 
which eventually become tidal beaches and finally dry 
land. Thus a wide belt of productive soil has been 
added to China since the historical period. Tientsin, 
now twenty miles from the sea, was originally a sea- 
port. All this is connected with the problem of the 
" loess,'' the stud}" of which was our principal reason 
for going to China. But the sharp line of demarca- 
tion separating the silt-laden water brought down by 
the Chinese rivers from that of the open ocean cannot 
fail to attract the attention of even the most unob- 
servant traveler. 

Chefoo, at the time of our visit, was a center oi 
great activity, both native and foreign. But from re- 
ports, the effects of the use of opium on the native 
merchants, many of whom had acquired great wealth, 
only to spend it in the use and abuse of this noxious 
drug, were deplorable. Missionary enterprise was 
everywhere evident here. The China Inland Mission 
had a large and excellent school where the children of 



212 Story of My Life 

missionaries were receiving their education. The in- 
genuity of the Presbyterian missionaries in getting the 
attention of the Chinese was impressive. As the 
Chinese were very anxious to learn about Western 
ways of accomplishing work by labor-saving machin- 
ery, an enterprising missionary had gathered together 
in a museum models of every sort of machinery used 
in the Western world, together with natural history 
specimens, and the Chinese were invited to inspect the 
objects to their hearts' content; the only condition be- 
ing that, to reach the museum, they pass through a 
chapel, where they were detained a half hour or so to 
hear a gospel sermon. In this way the gospel was 
preached to multitudes who could have been induced in 
no other way to give attention to it. 

From Chefoo we steamed to Taku, at the mouth of 
the Pei-ho, where we anchored some distance from the 
shore on account of the shallow water occasioned by 
the rapid silting-up of the bay already referred to. 
From here we were transferred to Tientsin on a rail- 
road which had recently been built. Previous to its 
building, all transportation to and from the gulf had 
been through the tortuous stream. Huge piles of salt, 
made from sea water by government agents, w 7 ere con- 
spicuous evidence of the government's plan of collect- 
ing revenue through monopoly of this necessary article 
of consumption. Tientsin itself has its permanent 



Across Asia 213 

future insured by its being both the terminus of the 
great Chinese canal, which brings to market the rich 
products of the Hwangho Valley, and the point from 
which supplies are transported to Peking up the Pei- 
ho, via Tung-chau. At the time of our reaching the 
place, everything was running smoothly, and the city 
was bustling with all sorts of commercial activities. I 
was specially interested in a technological school which 
had been established by Li Hung Chang, and put un- 
der the direction of Mr. Charles D. Tenney. This 
was filled w T ith students picked from different parts of 
the Empire, all of whom were fitting themselves to 
take part in the material development of China, which 
every one thought was to take place in a short time. 
I was invited to address them on geological subjects, 
and found a most responsive audience, the most of 
whom could understand English. A single incident 
speaks volumes concerning the social conditions of 
China. Mrs. Tenney asked if she could not attend 
the lecture, but was told that on no condition could 
she do it without practically breaking up the school, 
so fixed was the prejudice at that time against having 
women attend public places with men. 

From Tientsin we went to Peking by the railroad 
which had been recently opened — a distance of about 
eighty miles, through a barren, sandy country. But 



214 Story of My Life 

the railroad was not then permitted to approach nearer 
than a mile of the city. Here we were transferred to 
an electric road, which took us to the city wall, but no 
farther. The city would have been desecrated by its 
entrance into the sacred precincts. But all this is now 
changed. On our way we met a gorgeous funeral 
procession ; but we did not make the mistake made by 
Secretary Seward when he met such a procession on his 
approach to the city. He thought it must be designed 
to show honor to him, and so stood still and with 
uncovered head continued to bow his recognition until 
it was past — much to the astonishment of the Chinese. 
Once within the walls, we were taken by jinrikishas to 
the compound occupied by Rev. W. S. Ament, one of 
the missionaries, who was to entertain us and help us 
to prepare for a journey into the interior. 

The streets of Peking at that time were the most 
filthy and dismal thoroughfares imaginable. There 
were no closed sewers, and often the sewage flowed 
through the street itself. But the " compounds, " as 
they were called, where the better class of the citizens 
resided, were separately surrounded with walls, which 
shut out all disagreeable sights, and inclosed flower 
gardens, making them very attractive places for resi- 
dence. Thus the city was made to cover an immense 
area, in order to accommodate its vast population of 
official and well-to-do classes, As time was rapidly 



//cross Asia 215 

passing we were anxious to get into the interior as 
soon as possible, so as not to be too much delayed in 
beginning our journey across Siberia. Our missionary 
friends joined in the effort to help on our plans, by 
making for us in very short order the mattresses and 
quilts which we would need, both in a caravan jour- 
ney into China, and on the Siberian trip. Meanwhile, 
Mr. Pokateloff, the accommodating and courtly Rus- 
sian agent of the Chinese Eastern Bank (who died 
shortly afterwards as Russian Ambassador), supplied 
us with money on our letters of credit, and we went 
to a Chinese banker and transformed what was neces- 
sary into " cash " and silver bars. The "cash " were 
copper coins with a square hole in the middle, and of 
such small value that a silver dollar was worth fifteen 
hundred of them. Hence their very bulk prevented 
taking a sufficient supply to last long. So, when we 
reached a city of size enough to have a bank, we would 
find the banker and have him chop off a piece of silver, 
which he would weigh and then give its value in fresh 
cash. These pieces of cash had also much of historic 
and antiquarian interest, since it was unlawful to de- 
stroy a coin with the imperial stamp on it. Some of 
the cash which came into our possession were fifteen 
hundred years old. 

Another preliminary that must not be forgotten was 
to get our passports " viseed." Our ambassador, Mr. 



2l6 Story of My Life 

Conger, obligingly took them over to the Chinese of- 
ficials, and after due time they were returned, covered 
all over with Chinese characters, which we were told 
gave us the freedom of all northeastern China, and of 
Mongolia and Manchuria. These have been framed 
and preserved as curiosities to ornament our library 
shelves. 

Here I must pause to relate another of the many 
providential deliverances which intervened to make 
our trip a success, or rather to save it from disastrous 
failure. Our special object was to study the vast de- 
posits of loess which cover portions of northeastern 
China. There were two localities within reach where 
this could be done w T ith prospects of success, one was 
in the province of Shansi, the other in the vicinity of 
Kalgan. Shansi really offered the better field; and, 
besides, ten or twelve of my pupils were located there 
in the mission which had been organized by Oberlin 
students. The pressure was very strong to induce us 
to go there, and both study the loess, which covers the 
whole region in unequaled quantities, and renew my 
acquaintance with my pupils and perhaps cheer them 
in their lonely situation. But, if we went in that di- 
rection, the time required would be about tw T o weeks 
longer than if we went to Kalgan, and that would 
interfere with the latter part of our trip, so we turned 
a deaf ear to the entreaties to visit Shansi. As it turned 



J cross Asia 21 J 

out, all our missionaries in Shansi were massacred dur- 
ing the Boxer revolution, and we would have been of 
the number if we had gone there. 

It is one hundred and sixty miles from Peking to 
Kalgan. To make the trip then, there was no way to 
do but to organize a caravan. Ours consisted of four 
mules and two donkeys with two drivers, and a half- 
educated Chinese from the mission to act as cook and 
interpreter. Our bedding, food, and other luggage 
were piled upon the mules, and we surmounted all 
and rode there as comfortably as we could, when not 
astride of one of the donkeys, which were so small 
that our feet almost touched the ground. 

When night came we sought the shelter of Chinese 
inns, which were usually kept by Mohammedans — in- 
deed the Mohammedans controlled all the caravans 
and caravansaries in this part of China, and it was well 
for travelers that they did, for they were more cleanly 
in their habits than were the other Chinese. The inns 
were simply large inclosures, around two sides of 
which were small rooms for guests, with a large 
kitchen where our cook could prepare food for us. 
The sleeping places were what are called " kangs," i. e,, 
brick platforms, two or three feet high, under which 
ran the flue which carried off the smoke and surplus 
heat from the kitchen fire. This added to the comfort 



21 8 Story of My Life 

in cool weather, but had the disadvantage of keeping 
the insects which infested the quarters alive and active. 
Sometimes, also, there were no divisions between the 
sleeping quarters, and we had to content ourselves with 
marking off space for ourselves on the long platform, 
which was open to all comers, and was one with the 
kitchen. There were no glass windows, but in their 
place glazed paper, through which the Chinese women 
were accustomed to punch holes with their fingers, so 
that their children, held in arms, might look in and see 
the " foreign devils," as we were called. 

The poverty that met us all along was heart-rend- 
ing. The country is entirely stripped of its forests, 
and the chief fuel to be had was the roots of last year's 
millet and sorghum, which were carefully grubbed up 
and collected, and the droppings of animals that passed 
along the road. Men and boys would often follow 
us for miles to collect this material. Stalks of millet and 
sorghum were also used by the well-to-do classes. We 
saw brick kilns w T here this was the only fuel for the 
fires which were required. In other places, however, 
the mountain sides were scoured by the poor peasants 
in search of seedlings of trees of two or three years' 
growth, which were to be found in protected crannies. 
Numbers of these peasants could be seen towards night- 
fall returning with a small bunch upon their shoulders, 
for which they would receive a few cents. At Shi- 



J cross Asia 2 I { ) 

wantse we saw an Immense pile of such material ready 
to feed the fires of a brick kiln. 

Our first bill at a Chinese inn was 1,350 cash, 
which paid for the lodging of four persons, and a por- 
tion of their food, and for the feed of the animals. In 
gold currency this was about sixty cents, or fifteen 
cents apiece. At every inn where we stopped there 
would be a noisy altercation between our interpreter 
and the innkeeper just as we were mounted and ready 
to start. It would be claimed that some item amount- 
ing to twenty or twenty-five cash had been overlooked, 
and this sum would be demanded. Usually a com- 
promise was made, and we were permitted to go en 
by paying an additional ten or twelve cash. 

Characteristics of the Chinese are w 7 ell illustrated 
by an incident w T hich occurred at one of these inns the 
year before, when Rev. Mark Williams, one of the 
missionaries accompanying us from Kalgan, was pass- 
ing over the route. Just as their party were emerg- 
ing from the inn into the highway they encountered a 
Chinaman driving a donkey, loaded with a pannier of 
some kind of grain on each side. A frisky mule of 
Mr. Williams' party suddenly threw up his heels and 
knocked the grain into the dusty road. Thereupon the 
owner of the grain vigorously protested and demanded 
recompense. But while the altercation, which was ac- 
companied by threatening attitudes on the part of both 



220 Story of My Life 

the owner of the donkey and the guide of the party, 
was going on, friendly bystanders scooped up the grain 
with their hands and returned it to the panniers, 
mingled with so much dust that they were fuller than 
before. On seeing this the owner ceased to demand 
indemnity but contented himself with asking for an 
apology. This was refused on the ground that it was 
the nature of a mule to kick, and consequently it was 
to be expected that he would do so. While the alter- 
cation was continuing, the mule himself got free and 
lay down and rolled in the dust. This was satisfac- 
tory. The aggrieved one said, "The mule has apol- 
ogized, the mule has apologized, it is enough/' and, 
shaking hands with the guide, wished the party a safe 
journey. 

Between the plain on which Peking is built and the 
borders of Mongolia there are three parallel chains of 
mountains running northeast by southwest. When we 
set out on our journey on the ninth of May this moun- 
tain range, w T hich had the appearance of the walls of 
a vast amphitheater, rising from 4,000 to 7,000 feet 
in height, was covered with freshly fallen snow. As 
the peaks, about fifteen miles distant, were glistening 
in the sunshine of a clear day, they presented a scene 
which I had never seen equaled except in northern 
Italy. But alas, at the time we were gazing with 



J cross Asia 221 

rapture upon the scene, we knew that hundreds of 
pilgrims who had gone in holiday attire to these 
mountain heights to worship on a festal day were per- 
ishing from the effects of the storm ! 

The pass across the first range of mountains out 
from Peking begins at Nankao, about twenty miles 
from the city, and extends fifteen miles to Shadou, ris- 
ing there to a plain which is 2,500 feet above the sea. 
The gorge is exceedingly picturesque, not only by rea- 
son of its natural scenery but still more because there 
is crowded into it the traffic of all Mongolia on the 
way to Peking. The procession of pack animals did 
not seem to cease day or night. We made the pas- 
sage after sunset by moonlight. We counted 960 
camels which we either met or passed on the road, 
while there were numerous inns where uncounted 
numbers of pack animals were recuperating for an 
early start in the morning. 

The reason for our night journey through the pass 
was, that during the day we had made a detour to 
visit the Ming Tombs, which are situated at the base 
of the mountains, fifteen or twenty miles northeast of 
Nankao. These tombs are justly celebrated for the 
situation chosen for them, and for the grandeur of the 
scale on which everything related to them is con- 
structed. Considered from any point of view, they 
contradict the prevalent impression that the aesthetic 



222 Story of My Life 

element is largely lacking in Chinese nature. The 
tombs are situated in a vast amphitheater in the snow- 
clad mountains towards which we had been riding for 
the greater part of the day. The access to this is 
through an opening about three miles wide, partially 
closed by hills of upturned rocky strata several hun- 
dred feet in height. Across the entrance was a high 
wall, now mostly in ruins, running far up on the 
mountain sides. At this entrance there begins a 
grand succession of gateways, arches, bridges, built 
of marble, and avenues of gigantic statues of animals 
and men^ each carved from a single piece of stone 
which must have been brought from a distance. 
Among the animal sculptures, of which there were two 
on each side, were horses, camels, elephants, and grif- 
fins, followed by heroic statues first of soldiers and 
then, most honorable of all, scholars with their scho- 
lastic robes upon them. An immense mausoleum 
closes up the avenue at the foot of the mountain. 
This is where the first Ming emperor was buried more 
than five hundred years ago. Everything about the 
building is on a gigantic scale, while the details of the 
work invite the closest inspection. The principal 
room of the Confucian temple within the inclosure is 
220 feet long, ioo feet wide, and fully 50 feet high. 
In rear of, and surmounting all, is a forest-covered 
mound about two hundred feet in height where it is 



Across Asia 223 

presumed the mortal remains of the first emperor are 
deposited. There are thirteen similar monumental 
tombs in different portions of the amphitheater. Al- 
together nature and art have here conspired to make 
this one of the most impressive burial places in all the 
world. It is noteworthy that the revolutionary 
Manchu dynasty which succeeded the Ming emperors 
continued to keep these tombs in repair and to main- 
tain the ancestral worship at their shrines. 

The inherent love of the Chinese for the beautiful 
is touchingly shown in the regard which the common 
people have for birds. The plains of northeastern 
China and of Mongolia are rendered jubilant in the 
spring by innumerable meadow larks, which soar and 
sing even better than their relatives do in England. 
Everywhere, also, on the road to Kalgan, we found 
these beautiful birds confined in cages and most ten- 
derly cared for by their owners. Outside the walled 
cities, men and boys were seen bringing their pet birds 
to enjoy the air and sunshine. Peasants hoeing in the 
field had these pets with them, to beguile the weary 
hours of labor while shifting from one row to the 
other, and little naked boys had their birds so trained 
that they could carry them around the streets perched 
on their fingers. It was also a frequent occurrence to 
meet a foot peddler balancing upon the pole over his 
shoulders a lot of bird cages at one end and of flow- 



224 Story of My Life 

ering plants at the other. A Chinese flower garden, 
if only one gets admission to it, is an object of beauty 
ever to be remembered. It is only the hard condi- 
tions of life in a country overcrowded with popula- 
tion w r hich make the Chinese seem lacking in aesthetic 
inclinations. 

J 

Beyond the Nankao pass the road crosses diagonally 
the Gui-ho Valley and ascends the Yang-ho to the 
second range of mountains at Shiming, the distance be- 
ing about forty miles. In this valley loess appears in 
increasing quantities, especially in the vicinity of the 
mountains, where the travel had often worn paths 
twenty-five or thirty feet deep in the loess, with per- 
pendicular inclosing walls on either side. Across the 
Shiming Mountains the Yang-ho has forced its way 
through a picturesque gorge, which the road follows 
in many places along a narrow pathway cut in the 
face of precipitous rocks. Everywhere the procession 
of pack animals continued, being increased bej^ond the 
Shiming range by long trains of mules and donkeys 
carrying coal on their backs to regions beyond. Don- 
keys were often seen carrying panniers of coal destined 
for Kalgan, sixty miles away. At last, on the fifth day 
out from Peking, in the midst of a blinding dust storm 
lasting many hours, the terrors of which baffle de- 
scription, we reached Kalgan, the gateway to Mon- 



Across Asia 225 

golia and all Central Asia, and were warmly greeted 
by the missionaries, Rev. Mark Williams and Rev. 
Mr. and Mrs. Sprague. (Since that time a railroad 
has been built to Kalgan and the journey from Peking 
can be made in a single day, without discomfort.) 
After a Sunday's rest at the compound of the mis- 
sion, and another day spent in visiting the interesting 
localities in the vicinity, ard in forming the acquaint- 
ance of the Russian officials, we were ready for an 
excursion beyond the outer Chinese wall and the high 
border of the vast plateau which occupies the interior 
of the continent. It was gratifying to find the most 
cordial relations existing between the Russian officials 
and our missionaries. Indeed, the Russians had paid 
half the salary of the lady missionary physician, who 
had been some years at the station. On her departure 
from Kalgan much regret was expressed, and the Rus- 
sian ambassador at Peking wrote her a most cordial 
letter of thanks. 

Kalgan, a city of about one hundred thousand, is 
literally the gateway to Mongolia. The outer Chinese 
wall, built more than two thousand years ago, consti- 
tutes the upper w T all of the town. Here a number of 
converging streams, coming down with rapid descent 
from the lofty mountain chain beyond, narrow to a 
single channel, which is effectually guarded by the 
city. All the commerce between China and Central 



226 Story of My Life . 

Asia, and, until recently, with Siberia and Russia, 
passes through the single gate at the end of the prin- 
cipal street. Until two or three years before our visit 
this gate was so narrow that two loaded animals could 
not pass in it; but now it was so enlarged that the 
processions could be continuous both ways. 

Strange as it may seem, the completion of the Suez 
Canal seriously affected the interests of Kalgan and 
of a large surrounding populatio :i. Immediately upon 
that event a considerable portion of the commodities 
which had been shipped to Russia and western Siberia 
across Mongolia found an easier route by way of the 
canal, and great temporary suffering was wrought 
upon the northern provinces. The cause of this was 
not evident to the secluded sufferers and it was still 
among the disturbing mysteries of the region. The 
tea trade, however, was preserved to this route for a 
time, by maintaining the belief that the quality of the 
tea was injuriously affected by an ocean voyage. But, 
now that the Siberian railroad was approaching com- 
pletion, there was another struggle impending to re- 
tain the tea traffic of Russia in its old channels. Even 
at that time, the Russian merchants assured me that 
the traffic was largely diverted by way of Vladivos- 
tok. 

Still, Kalgan will never cease to be an important 
center of business; for there are two million Mongo- 



Across Asia 227 

Hans who will find this their natural commercial out- 
let to the world. In addition to this, Chinese farmers 
are rapidly spreading over the eastern border of the 
Mongolian plateau, and are transforming the thinly 
populated grazing land of the Mongols into more 
thickly populated agricultural colonies. One of the 
great national products of Mongolia must certainly 
find its way out through the present gateway. This 
is the crude soda of the desiccated lakes of the region. 
In ascending the narrow gorge leading from Kalgan 
to Hanoor, on the summit of the plateau, 2,500 feet 
above the city, w T e met thousands of oxcarts loaded 
with this native soda, found one hundred and fifty 
miles farther inland. This is all owmed by the Chi- 
nese government and is refined at Kalgan and dis- 
tributed from that point. Another rather curious 
sight that met our eyes during this part of our trip 
was large droves of black swine which had been driven 
long distances on their way to market. But it was not 
the swine themselves which attracted our curiosity so 
much as their feet, which were all shod with felt shoes 
to protect them from the stony paths over which they 
were compelled to travel. 

The eastern edge of the Mongolian plateau is 5,400 
feet above sea level, and what is most surprising is that 
the surface begins at once to slope away to the west. 



228 Story of My Life 

Indeed, in less than a mile from the edge of the escarp- 
ment the streams are running towards the great Gobi 
desert, which is only 2,500 feet above sea level. The 
view from the towers of the Chinese outer wall, which 
runs along the front of the escarpment, is extremely 
impressive and suggestive. To the west and north 
stretch, as far as the eye can reach, the undulating plain 
which occupies the interior of the great continent and 
which is largely rendered barren from lack of rain. 
But here in the month of May innumerable camels, 
oxen, and mules are spread abroad to recuperate for a 
short time from the arduous tasks which have been 
laid upon them in their long journeys to and from the 
interior. To the east and south are endless stretches 
of mountain peaks, along the central line of which the 
great wall is conspicuous as far as the angle of vision 
permits the eye to take cognizance of it. Later we 
learned that this is by no means a barren county. 
Between these mountain ranges there is a succession 
of fertile valleys, where irrigation partly counteracts 
the prevailing droughts, and the teeming population is 
able to procure a comfortable livelihood. 

After following for two days the great caravan 
route from Kalgan to Siberia, we left the high plateau 
and struck eastward across the upper portion of the 
streams which center at the pass at Kalgan. This took 
us into an unfrequented country and revealed to us 



Across Asia 229 

the inner life of the Chinese people, for though we 
were still in Mongolia, the Chinese were the main oc- 
cupants of the soil. On reaching the little village of 
mud houses named San-ha-pa, on the very edge of th? 
escarpment, we found it necessary to seek shelter for 
the night. But as there was no inn this was a 
matter of no small difficulty. We were the wonder 
of the whole community, attracting so much atten- 
tion that we actually broke up a funeral proces- 
sion which was passing by. At length, however, an 
elderly couple consented to vacate all their house but 
the kitchen, and even that was given up to our at- 
tendants. The curiosity of the people was insatiable. 
Till late in the evening an unmanageable throng 
crowded into the vacant space of the room, and pressed 
against the paper windows until they had broken them 
through, to see us eat and drink, and to inspect our 
clothes. Even the women ventured into conspicuous 
places, and stood on the housetops all around to gaze 
at us whenever we ventured out. But it was a harm- 
less, good-natured crowd. It is true that they called 
us " devils," — the mothers, as usual, holding up their 
children to the windows of our inn and rebuking 
them for being afraid of the " devils." This, how- 
ever, meant nothing more than " foreigners." So, as 
far as we could learn, they did not in that village, as 
they did near Tientsin, call us " long-haired devils." 



230 Story of My Life 

Going on farther east from this point, we descended 
1,500 feet into a broad longitudinal valley, lined on 
all the southeastern slopes with hills of loess, on which 
the villages were built, many of the houses being mere 
excavations in this remarkable formation. Passing 
again over another north and south ridge which car- 
ried us up to the level of the plateau, we sought 
shelter the third night in an inn which had no private 
room. The " kang " adjoined the kitchen rrnge, 
which was heated by dry manure of the various ani- 
mals cared for in the inclosure or passing by on the 
road. As most of the smoke was left to find its way 
without proper guidance to a solitary hole in the roof, 
the scene must be left to the reader's imagination. 
Without any partition walls we shared the sleeping 
place with an unknown number of Chinese. No 
harm, however, ensued, and we had excellent oppor- 
tunities to observe the conditions under which this 
industrious and patient people spend their lives. 

The poverty of the great mass of the people had 
been forced upon our attention in many ways, but in 
none more than in the matter of dress. Peking is in 
the latitude of Philadelphia, yet in the ride from that 
city to Tung-chau on the first of May, when snow had 
fallen to a depth of several inches, we saw many chil- 
dren from six to ten years of age w^ho had already 
donned their summer apparel, consisting simply of a 



Across Asia 231 

little colored cord braided into their long hair. On 
the way to Kalgan naked children became too fre- 
quent to attract attention. In the inn at one of the 
villages a little boy about five or six years old, without 
even a cord in his hair, walked in with great dignity 
carrying carefully in his hand a single egg which he 
wished to barter for thread. The innkeeper, who was 
as well a storekeeper, attended to the wants of the 
child with as much obsequiousness as he would have 
shown to a grown-up patron, and the boy departed 
with perfect satisfaction. On asking Mr. Williams 
if there was not danger that the boy would be im- 
posed upon, he answered, "No: for his mother has a 
tongue." Thus the Chinese women secure their rights 
without the ballot, about as they do in other countries. 
On inquiry w T e ascertained that in this section of 
China, carpenters get what in America would amount 
to eight cents a day. A boss mason receives eight and 
a half cents, and his attendant six and a half. Ordi- 
nary workmen and sewing women get five cents. But 
this low scale of wages is offset by the 1ow t cost of 
living. Oatmeal, which is the staple here as rice is in 
the south, ordinarily sells for less than a cent a pound. 
When it rises to a cent and a half, a famine is pro- 
duced and multitudes die from lack of nutriment. 
The food for an ordinary workman costs a cent and a 
half per day. A large part of the unrest culminating 



232 Story of My Life 

in the Boxer revolution, which was beginning to con- 
vulse China at that time, was occasioned by the wide- 
spread pressure for food, caused by the partial failure 
of crops in the northeastern provinces. A hungry peo- 
ple are not amenable to reason. 

The fourth day carried us over another mountain 
ridge level with the plateau, and brought us at night 
to the noted Catholic mission of Srmvantse, maintained 
by a society in Belgium. It was surprising to find in 
this remote locality so many indications of Christian 
civilization. Here was a boarding school for Chinese 
girls with an attendance of four hundred, and another 
for boys with two hundred. In the village eighteen 
hundred Christian Chinese are living with every sign 
of contentment, in houses excavated in the extensive 
loess deposit w T hich has collected at the southern base 
of the encircling mountains. The bishop and a half 
dozen associates hospitably welcomed us, and showed 
us with just pride through their new building, more 
than three hundred feet long and two stories high, 
which they were constructing for the enlargement of 
their work. Altogether they reported 30,000 converts 
in Mongolia, and 780,000 in China. All the fifth 
day we slowly worked our way down the ever-deepen- 
ing valley towards Kalgan, only reaching there on the 
sixth day from starting. 

The objects of our trip were accomplished. As Kal- 



Across Asia 233 

gan is in the latitude of New York City, where the 
marks of the Glacial epoch are abundant, and as the 
general conditions of eastern Asia are so like those of 
eastern North America, it was necessary, in fixing the 
limits to glacial action in Asia, to explore thoroughly 
this region. Our trip demonstrated that glaciers 
never have extended as far south as that, on the Mon- 
golian plateau. To find glacial phenomena we must 
now go to Mukden (north of Korea) and make a sec- 
tion of the country thence to the Sungari River. 

We left Kalgan for Peking on the 21st of May, 
and arrived on the 26th, having been absent, without 
news from the outside world, for three weeks. We 
found the city in a state of great excitement on ac- 
count of the menacing attitude of the " Boxers." On 
two or three occasions we had come in contact, more or 
less directly, with these malcontents. At one time 
we encountered a large crowd that was gathered 
around a company of them as they w^ere going through 
their contortions. They seemed to embody in one the 
fury of religious bigotry and that of political enthu- 
siasm, fanned into flame by the manifest rapid progress 
of foreign enterprises and the wide-spread failure of 
crops already referred to. For many months com- 
panies of them had been gathering in increasing num- 
bers, and by practices familiar to religious enthusiasts 



234 Story of My Life 

had worked themselves up into an hypnotic state, in 
which they made themselves believe that they were in- 
vulnerable to bullets. Two Chinese army officers 
were overheard one day in a railroad train discussing 
this claim of the Boxers. One of them thought there 
was really something in it, and that they were invul- 
nerable. The other called attention to the fact that 
in a recent engagement some of them had been killed 
by bullets, to which the other replied, that probably 
they had not passed through all the degrees. 

We left Peking for Tientsin on the 26th of May. 
We w r ere none too soon ; for, on the following day, the 
Boxers, with arms and munitions of war obtained from 
the sympathetic soldiery, attacked the railroad south of 
Peking, burnt the stations, and advanced to within a 
few miles of the city, where they destroyed the main 
railroad and cut Peking off from connection w 7 ith the 
outside world. The foreign powers were taken com- 
pletely by surprise. On the 29th, about midnight, a 
company of marines from the United States gunboat 
Newark reached Tientsin and were welcomed with 
noisy demonstrations. But they could get no farther. 
On the 30th we were glad to escape from the confu- 
sion, and take a train for the harbor, where we could 
get a boat for Chefoo. Already there w T ere fourteen 
men-of-w T ar of all nationalities hovering about Taku, 
eight of them being Russian. Five hundred Russian 



Across Asia 235 

soldiers, who had attempted to follow the United 
States marines up to Tientsin, had been turned back. 
No one knew what to expect. 

On reaching Chefoo we soon found a small Rus- 
sian steamer bound for Port Arthur, which at this 
time was little else than a military post, where active 
operations were going on to complete the fortifications. 
We found shelter in a miserable inn, partly dug out 
from the side of the hill on the west side of the town, 
and set ourselves at work to procure an interview with 
Admiral Alexieff, who was still there, though the 
ranking admiral among the fleets assembled to protect 
foreign interests in China. That afternoon there was 
to be a reception given by the Admiral, so we attended, 
expecting to hand him there our letter of introduction 
from Baron Rosen. But the extra duties thrust upon 
him by the Boxer revolution kept him from being 
present, and so we failed to secure an interview. And 
here comes in an incident in my experience, such as 
has often occurred, w^hen ignorance was bliss. 

The next morning w T e went over to the Admiral's 
office and presented to the guards both the letter to 
the Admiral, and the one to Colonel Samoieofr. But, 
if we could at that time have read the address on the 
letter to Samoieoff, we would have learned that his sta- 
tion was not at Port Arthur, but at Khabarovsk, sev- 
eral hundred miles away. In our ignorance, however, 



236 Story of My Life 

we handed both letters to the guards. After waiting 
an hour or more, we were put in charge of a Cossack 
and marched off through the streets, we knew not 
where, or what for. We were taken to military head- 
quarters, and, to our great joy, ushered into the pres- 
ence of Colonel Samoieoff, who the day before had 
reached Port Arthur, having been transferred there 
on the breaking out of the Boxer difficulties. Good 
fortune had again attended us. Colonel Samoieoff 
spoke English fluently, and was greatly interested in 
our plans, and said he would secure an interview with 
the Admiral in a short time. He took our letter and 
sent it to the Admiral's residence and told us to return 
to our inn, where we w T ould be called for soon. In due 
time an orderly came to us with an invitation for a 
private interview the next morning. Meanwhile the 
Colonel took us in charge and showed us everything 
about the place which it was lawful for us to see, and 
aided us in selecting and purchasing photographs. 

Our interview with the Admiral was very satisfac- 
tory. We found that he, too, had been in America, 
and w T as interested in the objects of our investigations. 
Next morning he put us on a construction train, w T hich 
was to go leisurely up as far as the rails were laid on 
this end of the Chinese Eastern railroad, to Teling, 
thirty miles beyond Mukden. It was interesting to 
notice that we were drawn by a Baldwin locomotive, 



Across Asia 237 

built in Philadelphia, over rails made in Baltimore and 
laid on ties from Oregon. We were crowded into the 
caboose with officers, and engineers of the road, to- 
gether with a number of the higher class of the work- 
men. The train stopped everywhere to put off sup- 
plies, or to transport timbers which had served their 
purpose in one place and were needed farther along, 
so that, so far as observation was concerned, it was 
next thing to making the distance in a Chinese cart. 
The superintendent of the stations to be erected along 
the road was going the whole distance to Teling, and 
had with him a tow-headed Scandinavian servant, who 
had been in New York and could speak English in- 
differently. The superintendent was very helpful to us 
in every w 7 ay. So the journey passed off as pleasantly 
and profitably as could have been w T ished if we had 
planned everything ourselves. 

Port Arthur is the " nose " of the Liao-tung pen- 
insula, which is essentially a mountainous range, bor- 
dered by fertile lands on either side. For the most part 
the road runs so near the south side of the peninsula 
that the ocean is in view. Near Te-lien-wan, how- 
ever, the water is for some distance visible on both 
sides. Altogether the ride much resembles that from 
Florence to Genoa in Italy. From Niu-chuang to 
Mukden the road follows up the middle of the rich 
Liao-tung Valley, which is fifty miles or more wide, 



238 Story of My Life 

with every acre under cultivation. At the time we 
passed through it, squads of Chinese were cultivating 
the vast fields of sorghum, millet, and beans, which 
form the staple crops. Not a weed was to be seen. We 
could easily understand how the Russians, a few years 
later, in the Japanese war, made a fatal mistake in fail- 
ing to reckon on the growth of these crops, when mak- 
ing their military assignments for the artillery posts, 
these being made when the ground was bare. But, by 
the time of actual military occupations, the millet and 
sorghum had grown so high that the Japanese could 
approach the Russian lines without being observed as 
they crawled through the rank vegetation. The pro- 
ductiveness of the country may be judged by the fact 
that five hundred thousand tons of beans were annually 
sent out of the port of Niu-chuang. 

Before the building of the Chinese Eastern railroad 
by the Russians, all this inland traffic was by means 
of primitive carts. The organization and protection 
of these immense caravans as they went back and forth 
reveal a condition of things in the Chinese Empire 
that is little understood by foreigners. The central 
government in China is so weak that almost everything 
is left to the local authorities, and they are but the 
agents ofjocal public sentiment. " Local option" in 
China has been carried to a ridiculous extreme. For 



Across Asia 239 

instance, as we were coming down from Shiwantse to 
Kalgan, we passed through a village which had been 
visited a few days before by a band of robbers, who had 
pillaged the public pawnshop, which served as the 
bank, and carried away a large portion of the goods 
which were stored there. But they did not take every- 
thing, and did not disturb the private dwellings. 
With this the authorities were well satisfied, and made 
no effort to capture and punish the marauders. Evi- 
dently they regarded the loot as a sort of a tax for 
their protection. For if they had pursued the robbers 
they would have returned and wiped out the whole 
settlement. 

In Manchuria the whole government of the province 
was practically turned over to a " robber trust," which 
had been formed by the larger bands. So many small 
bands had been formed that there was danger that all 
traffic would be driven off from the road; hence the 
larger bands formed a trust to put down the smaller 
bands, and then went to the merchants and offered for 
a given sum to insure safe conduct for the caravans 
and their treasures. This w 7 as practically all the gov- 
ernment that existed in Manchuria w T hen we were 
there, outside of the strip, ten miles wide, bordering 
the railroad, which was under Russian protection. 
Similarly, in Kalgan at that time, there was a " beggar 
trust." The beggars were organized, and had a 



240 Story of My Life 

" king," who would go to the merchants and arrange 
with them, for a specific sum, to keep all beggars from 
infesting the entrance to their stores. The service 
thus rendered was really a full equivalent for the sum 
paid. But, after all, this is not much different from 
the protection which is often secured in our country 
by the employment of Pinkerton detectives to supple- 
ment government agencies. 

The railroad through Manchuria seemed to make 
many curves which were unnecessary in going through 
a level country. But soon there appeared a reason for 
this. It was to avoid the desecration of graves, which 
the Chinese consider most sacred. Much unnecessary 
ill-will was incurred by the English and Germans 
through their disregard of this feeling among the 
Chinese. In this respect the Russians were more con- 
siderate than other nations had been. The absence of 
labor-saving machinery w T as also noted all along the 
line of the railroad w T hich was under construction. 
We did not see a wheelbarrow during the whole jour^ 
ney. The dirt that was removed from the various 
cuts, and was used to make the equally numerous fills, 
was all dug up by hoes, placed in baskets hung on the 
opposite ends of a pole and carried on the shoulders of 
naked men, who cheerfully trotted back and forth 
with their burdens, and deposited them where needed. 
But throughout China human labor is cheap. Ten 



Across Asia 241 

cents a day in silver was all that was paid, and there 
were literally, when we were there, hundreds of thou- 
sands of men employed in pushing on the w T ork to com- 
pletion. It was no unusual thing to see a hundred 
men at work without a stitch of clothes on them. And 
when off from work, they were often seen wrestling 
and engaging in other sports. Nakedness was their 
normal condition in the summer time. 

Teling is about thirty miles beyond Mukden and 
four hundred and thirty miles from Port Arthur. 
From here to the end of the section which was being 
built southward from Harbin, there intervened about 
two hundred miles that must be traversed by private 
conveyance. Here we were very cordially received by 
Air. Cassigeri, the chief engineer, w T ho was construct- 
ing the section of seventy-five miles extending north- 
ward. His family w T as with him, occupying a native 
house, which was comfortably fitted up for the two 
years' stay during which the work was expected to con- 
tinue. We were hospitably shown another house, 
which, with the adjoining garden, we were told was 
all ours as long as we cared to stay ; -and a servant was 
placed at our disposal. Mr. Cassigeri did not speak 
English. But Colonel Ghenche, the superintendent 
of telegraphic construction along the whole line, spoke 
it fluently, and was well versed in every department 



242 Story of My Life 

of learning. Indeed, he was one of the best informed 
and interesting men I ever met. His knowledge of 
the conditions of all the countries bordering the Rus- 
sian Empire on the south was encyclopedic. He was 
boarding with the Cossack colonel, whose wife was 
with him and was as cordial in welcoming us as was 
her husband. She felt quite hurt that w r e did not make 
our home with them instead of the chief engineer. We 
could pacify them only by taking one or two meals 
with them. Here, as everywhere else where we saw 
them, the Cossacks made a very pleasant impression on 
us. They are to Russia what the standing army is to 
the United States, and are animated by about the same 
patriotic and disinterested sentiments of loyalty and 
hospitality. 

At the dinners in the house of the chief engineer we 
were introduced to a Russian custom which we had 
much opportunity to observe later. Before sitting 
down to the heavily laden table we were expected in- 
dividually to go to a side table and help ourselves to 
various appetizing morsels, consisting of such things 
as sardines, sw T eet cucumber pickles, crackers, and, it 
you were so inclined, a mouthful of " vodka. " Colonel 
Ghenche usually dined with us, so that there was no 
difficulty in carrying on conversation during the meal. 
Mr. Cassigeri was a Circassian. I was much touched 
when, just before leaving, he asked me into his private 



./cross Asia 243 

office, and after we were seated took out from his desk 
a photograph of a beautiful girl, who, he told me with 
the aid of a Latin dictionary, was his daughter, buried 
in Petrograd. Sorrow brings all hearts together. The 
tears filled his eyes as he shared his feelings with me 
for a few moments before we separated. 

On Monday, June II, 1900, we regretfully parted 
from our friends at Teling, and set out on our jour- 
ney of two hundred miles in two carts, each drawn by 
three mules, and accompanied by a Chinese driver, 
with whom we had arranged to transport us the whole 
distance. The journey was to occupy about ten days. 
The charge was eighty silver dollars. We still had 
with us our Chinese interpreter whom we had engaged 
in Peking, and carried our own bedding and a supply 
of provisions. None of these, however, were needed 
for the first week; since Cossacks conducted us from 
station to station of the engineering corps engaged in 
constructing the road, and we were everywhere royally 
entertained by men of wide information, who fully ap- 
preciated the objects of our expedition, and were de- 
lighted to see some one from the outside world. An 
important sidelight is shed on Russia's power and civi- 
lization in that, when a railway eighteen hundred miles 
in length was to be constructed in an unknown region, 
in the shortest possible time, the large body of trained 
men capable of doing the work could be found at once. 



244 Story of My Life 

Those whom we met were uniformly men of wide 
general as well as special training; and they were from 
all parts of the Empire; from Poland, Moscow, Odessa, 
Circassia, and Armenia. One, Mr. Terovakimoff, an 
Armenian, who had constructed the section of the 
Siberian railway from Krasnoyarsk, on the Yenisei 
River, to Irkutsk, on the Angara, was an accomplished 
classical scholar, and could repeat w T ith ease large por- 
tions of Horace in Latin and of Sophocles in Greek. 
Nearly all these men were looking forward to a jour- 
ney home through America on the completion of their 
work in about a year. 

From Teling the valley broadens out till it becomes 
in the northwest unlimited, and is everywhere, in the 
vicinity of the railroad, under high cultivation. No 
part of the prairie region of the United States exceeds 
it in fertility. Moreover, the distant mountains are 
covered with timber, in pleasing contrast to those in 
China. As we proceeded northward I was constantly 
looking with expectation of finding some indication of 
glacial deposits, for w r e were now in the latitude of 
New England and on the same side of a continent. 
But the prophecies of finding glacial deposits with 
which I encouraged my son from day to day proved 
delusive, and I barely escaped the reputation of being 
a false prophet. Indeed, no signs of glaciation ap- 
peared even when we had reached the Amur River at 



Across Asia 245 

Khabarovsk in latitude 48 , nor, later, at Elba/in, In 
latitude 53°, which is on the same parallel with Ham- 
ilton Inlet in Labrador. 

At Kw r an-Chen-tse we spent the Sabbath with some 
missionaries from the north of Ireland, who, with 
others supported by a Scotch society, have had remark- 
able success in the leading centers of Manchuria. Dr. 
Gordon, the medical missionary at this place, and his 
family, entertained us most hospitably, so that it 
seemed like being at home again. He w 7 as both phy- 
sician and preacher, but unfortunately for us lie 
preached in the language of the people and not in Eng- 
lish. His hospital was widely patronized, and evi- 
dently w T as very productive both in the direct good it 
did and in the indirect influence w r hich it exerted in 
commending Christianity to the people. 

Kwan-Chen-tse is a lively center of trade w T ith Mon- 
golia. Especially is it a great market for horses, which 
are collected in great numbers. It lies just north of 
the watershed separating the basin of the Yellow Sea 
from that of the Sea of Okhotsk. But the grades in 
both directions are so gradual as to be almost imper- 
ceptible. North of the summit the alluvium becomes 
deeper, the roads worse, if possible, and the soil even 
more fertile. Across the seventy miles leading from 
there to the Sungari River, where we met the railroad 
which w T as in process of construction south from Har- 



246 Story of My Life 

bin, we followed the Chinese roads, and stayed in 
Chinese inns. The sleeping places in these were com- 
mon to us with thirty or forty Chinamen, several black 
pigs, and two or three mangy dogs. But after we had 
been jolted for twelve hours in a two-wheeled cart 
without springs, any resting place was acceptable. We 
reached the Sungari River at two p. m. on Wednesday, 
June 20, and found it to compare favorably with the 
Allegheny above Pittsburgh, but more navigable. The 
river is running here to the northwest, in which direc- 
tion it continues for more than a hundred miles, where 
it is joined by the Nonni and turns to the east. The 
railway crosses in a straight line and meets the river 
again at Harbin, about a hundred miles by the road, 
but fully two hundred and fifty as the river runs. The 
same level fertile plains which we had been traversing 
by cart for the last two hundred miles continued to 
Harbin, which w T e reached safely on Friday, having 
been thrown off the track once. Harbin was un- 
known, even by name, two and a half years before we 
visited it. Then it was a city of ten thousand inhabi- 
tants, all engaged in rushing the construction of the 
railway in three directions, towards Port Arthur, 
Vladivostok, and towards Siberia. It was located here 
because it is the practical head of good navigation on 
the Sungari River, so that material could be transported 
thither by steamers. An immense amount of material 



Across Asia 247 

had already been distributed from there, — enough to 
equip three hundred miles of road, and more was con- 
stantly arriving. The most of this was from America. 
Geologists will be interested to know that at Harbin 
wells are eighty feet deep in alluvial soil, and that the 
abutments of the railway bridge go down for founda- 
tions through one hundred and eighty feet of clay. 

Mr. Yugovitch, the chief engineer of the road, made 
his headquarters at Harbin. He had heard of our 
coming and gave us a hearty welcome. On learning 
that I wished to have the elevations along the road, 
he at once produced his papers, and read them off to 
me while I copied them with a pencil. When I asked 
him questions about the watershed at Kwan-Chen-tse, 
he saw at once the scientific importance of them and 
had me write out what I wished done, and telegraphed 
his engineers to survey and make a profile section along 
the watershed westward from there to determine w T hat 
the lowest point actually was. Thus I soon had at 
command a most important series of facts, which 
would have been beyond my reach but for Mr. Yugo- 
vitch's intelligent interest. I could easily understand 
why he w T as chosen to be chief engineer of so vast a 
work of construction. 

DOWN THE SUNGARI RIVER AND UP THE USURI 

The importance of the Sungari River will best be 



248 Story of My Life 

appreciated by Americans when they are told that it 
drains an area considerably larger than the basin of 
the Ohio, and one that is equally rich in agricultural 
resources, and possibly also in mineral wealth and for- 
ests. The river is navigable for steamers up to Har- 
bin, a distance of six hundred miles from its mouth, 
where it joins the Amur, a hundred miles above 
Khabarovsk. In its upper waters an immense amount 
of commerce is carried on in Chinese junks. We 
were sent down from Harbin on one of the twenty 
steamers which had been constructed by the Russians 
to bring supplies for the construction of the railroad in 
three directions from Harbin. In going through the 
yards we were flattered by finding the names of fif- 
teen Ohio firms on the boxes of material required for 
their work. Among our companions on the steamer 
was Colonel Dessino, the Russian military agent in 
northern China. He spoke English readily, and was 
able to give us all the information we desired concern- 
ing the country. 

The scenery along the Sungari is almost unrivalled 
in interest. The valley is from twenty-five to fifty 
miles broad, with picturesque mountains forming the 
sky line on either side. Occasionally these approach 
near to one or the other side of the river, but ordi- 
narily they are at the respectful distance which lends 
enchantment to the view. The river is everywhere 



Across As id 249 

majestic In its volume, ns it rolls along between its 
green banks and cultivated fields. The scene was also 
still enlivened by the presence of many native junks, 
which are slowly propelled by sails, by men pushing 
with poles against the bottom of the stream, or by 
others painfully towing them with long ropes from the 
banks. The natives could yet hardly realize what a 
transformation steam was to make for them. The 
junks will, however, always be necessary in the sev- 
eral hundred miles of more difficult navigation above 
Harbin, and in the various tributaries of the main 
stream. 

We were four days making the trip from Harbin 
to Khabarovsk; but we were anchored during the 
darker portions of two of the nights. The hundred 
miles of the Amur traversed was a repetition of the 
Sungari, only on a larger scale. From the junction 
to the sea, the Amur is really one of the grandest 
rivers in the world. So vast is its basin, and so slightly 
elevated is the lower part of it, that the gradient is 
slight. From Harbin to the sea the fall is only about 
five inches to the mile, while from Blagovestchensk the 
gradient is still less. 

The view from Khabarovsk in early summer is one 
of the grandest imaginable. East and west the broad 
current of the Amur, winding through a valley of 
luxuriant vegetation, which has no visible northern 



250 Story of My Life 

border, can be traced to the limit of vision, while the 
broad Usuri comes in from the south through the de- 
files of the mountain chain which rises in solemn 
grandeur to limit the vision in that direction. The city 
itself is also interesting. In 1900 it had fifteen hun- 
dred inhabitants. Its museum and geographical so- 
ciety are famous the world over. It is the center of 
administration for all the maritime provinces of Si- 
beria, and so has a large proportion of intelligent and 
highly cultivated residents. The completion of the 
main line of the railroad, through Harbin to Vladi- 
vostok, will somewhat limit its future growth ; but 
the prospect of rapid development of the vast tribu- 
tary region to the west and southwest has already 
given it a new impulse, which, in a few years, will 
make it, even more than now, a most attractive place 
of residence, especially in summer. Yet, strange to 
say, those who live there go in considerable numbers, 
every summer, to Kamchatka for variety. Such is the 
universal anxiety of the modern man to enjoy some 
change of scene. 

Because we had sent our baggage around from Port 
Arthur to Vladivostok we thought it best to run down 
there, especially as it would give us a chance to see so 
much more of the country. But we now began to 
learn something of the tragedies which were taking 
place in China, though our inability at that time to 



Across Asia 251 

read the Russian papers limited our knowledge to the 
barest outline of tacts. In our desperation, however, 
we had purchased a paper just before boarding the 
train. Our comrades perceived our difficulty in get- 
ting anything out of the paper, but were unable to 
assist us. Soon, however, a Russian lady on board 
learned of our embarrassment and relieved it. She 
was a woman of about fifty years, and, as we learned 
afterwards, was the wife of the Military Governor at 
Vladivostok, and was returning from a visit to Russia. 
Coming to the door opening into our compartment, 
she graciously asked us in good English if she should 
not translate the news to us. Of course we accepted 
the favor with great pleasure, and learned for the first 
time of the siege of Peking, and the many other hor- 
rors from which we had barely escaped. It is need- 
less to say that this, with several other similar experi- 
ences, has given us an exalted opinion of the educated 
Russian women. The graciousness with which this 
highborn Russian dame ministered to the wants of two 
seedy travelers made an impression that can never be 
obliterated from memory, and led us to wonder if 
many American women would, or could, give such 
assistance to Russian travelers in a plight similar to 
ours. 

On arriving at Vladivostok, our first concern was 
to communicate with those at home to let them know 



252 Story of My Life 

of our safety; for we perceived that, as the last letters 
they could have received from us were mailed a month 
before the Boxer outbreak, just as we were starting 
for Kalgan, there must be great anxiety about us. 
And so there had been. Telegrams had been sent to 
China in vain to learn of our whereabouts. The most 
hopeful surmise was that we were with the mission- 
aries, who had escaped from Kalgan and were making 
their way across the desert on the camel route to Si- 
beria. To relieve what I knew was their anxiety I 
paid eight gold dollars to send two words to my 
daughters. These were, " Safe, prosperous." After a 
few days in this beautifully situated naval fortress, we 
returned to Khabarovsk, to continue our journey 
homeward by way of the Amur River and the Siberian 
railroad. An idea of the state of society in this and 
all other principal towns in Asiatic Russia may be 
formed from the fact that here we were permitted 
to attend the production of one of the classic operas, 
by a company that had come on for a season from 
Russia, the choruses being performed by a local so- 
ciety, all supported by a local orchestra. The per- 
formance was in every way satisfactory. 

The distance to Khabarovsk is four hundred miles, 
and the run was made in thirty hours. A dining car 
provided excellent meals at a rouble (about fifty cents) 
each. The second-class carriages had comfortable 



J cross Asia 253 

sleeping arrangements without charge; but the pas- 
senger had to supply his own bedding, as is the case 
In hotels throughout Asiatic Russia. The fare was 
only a cent and a half a mile, while on the third-class 
cars the charge was less than a cent a mile. 

UP THE AMUR 

Immediately on returning from Vladivostok, w T e took 
a steamer from Khabarovsk to Blagovestchensk, about 
five hundred miles up the Amur River, having been 
joined by three interesting traveling companions, Cap- 
tain Harford, Captain Smith-Dorrien, and Mr. Wet- 
tekind. Captain Harford had taken an active part in 
the Crimean War, and afterwards was for thirty 
years English consul at Sevastopol. He was a great 
admirer of Russia and her institutions, and was full 
of information of every sort concerning her rulers and 
people. Captain Smith-Dorrien had been commander 
of the British man-of-war Bonaventura, that had been 
stationed at Manila. He had been invited home for 
promotion just in time to prevent his partaking in a 
most important transaction. Soon after he had left 
the ship, it was ordered to Chinese waters, and its 
captain had the honor of receiving the surrender of 
the Chinese fort, Taku, commanding the entrance to 
Tientsin. He is a brother of the General Smith- 
Dorrien of South-African fame. Mr. Wettekind was 



254 Story of My Life 

a member of the great mercantile firm of Kuntz and 
Albert of Vladivostok. A more agreeable and helpful 
company of companions it would be difficult to find. 

The steamer was crowded with Russian refugees 
from Manchuria, many of them being families of the 
engineers who had so hospitably entertained us. Be- 
ing now under the protection of Russia and in Rus- 
sian territory we little dreamed of any further dif- 
ficulty. For two days our steamer wound its way 
along the tortuous course of the great river, with 
scarcely anything but the vast plain in sight. The 
breadth of the stream was fully a mile. On the third 
day we passed diagonally through the Bureya Moun- 
tains, which occupied a width of nearly one hundred 
miles, furnishing us subdued but very pleasing scen- 
ery. Above this at a picturesque Cossack station, 
called Radeska, w T e entered a broad prairie region, 
extending to Blagovestchensk, a distance of about two 
hundred miles, where the elevation is but three hun- 
dred feet above the sea, though a thousand miles from 
the mouth of the river. Our feeling of security was 
disturbed by discovering that we had on board two 
Chinese mandarins, whose baggage contained inflam- 
matory appeals to their countrymen on the south side 
of the river to rise and destroy their Russian neighbors. 
We also met a number of steamers and barges, taking 
down from Blagovestchensk the whole garrison of the 



./cross J sin 255 

city, numbering five thousand, to be used in protecting 

Russian interests In Harbin and throughout Man- 
churia. 

About one hundred miles below Blagovestchensk, 
shallow water compelled us to disembark at Poyerkova, 
and make the rest of our distance on land. After a 
night's rest, we drove the next day in tarantasses fifty 
miles to Gulvena, a thrifty settlement of vegetarians 
(Molokani). The scene was a beautiful one, when, 
about sundown, the cattle were wending their way 
homeward from the broad flood-plain of the Amur, 
and seeking their nightly resting places at each peas- 
ant's home. But the people were in a state of great 
excitement over the report of refugees, that the Chinese 
had crossed the river a few miles above and burned 
some Russian villages. Moreover, the silence was 
broken from time to time by the sound of cannon 
from the Chinese fort, AJgun, some miles up the river. 
As a consequence every family in the village packed 
the women and children and valuable household goods 
into carts, and in the middle of the night retired into 
the interior of the country for safety; but we were 
compelled to camp on the floor of the- posthouse and 
wait the developments of the morning. 

As no Chinese had ventured to attack the village, 
the peasants mostly came back in the morning to at* 
tend to their affairs. Two of these we engaged for 



256 Story of My Life 

sixty gold dollars to drive us by a back road to a sta- 
tion twenty miles distant. Here, as the road beyond 
was reported safe, we engaged teams to take us the 
rest of our journey at a reasonable price. But around 
a semicircle of fifty miles, following a curve of the 
river to the south, majestic columns of smoke were 
seen to rise from twenty-five or thirty points, and we 
soon passed the ruins of a small village that had been 
burned. Not long after, we came to a Chinese set- 
tlement of eight or ten thousand inhabitants, which 
was still burning, and through its streets were com 
pelled to go with the flames roaring on either side and 
the cinders falling upon us like snowflakes. But we 
reached the city in safety and brought with us the first 
news from below that they had obtained for tw T o or 
three days. 

Blagovestchensk was then a city of some 30,000 in- 
habitants (it is now 70,000) spread out, with broad 
streets, over an extensive delta terrace between the 
Zeya and Amur rivers. The kind-hearted and un- 
suspicious Military Governor had sent the entire gar- 
rison of the city to the defense of interests lower down 
the river. But no sooner was this done, than a Chi- 
nese army ten or fifteen thousand strong, appeared on 
the south side and began to bombard the city. A 
guard was hastily recruited, which, with their scanty 



Across Asia 257 

supply of small arms, made such a show that the Chi- 
nese did not attempt to cross the river. While we 
were there, however, shells were bursting constantly 
in the streets, occasionally killing persons who were 
exposed; and at one time a bullet came into the din- 
ing room in the hotel, on a back street, where we were 
staying. 

It was at Blagovestchensk, two or three days before 
we arrived, that the reported terrible massacre of 
Chinese occurred for which the Russians w r ere so 
greatly blamed. The facts were these: There were 
between three and four thousand Chinese peaceably 
living in the city when on Sunday morning the Rus- 
sians were waked from their fancied security by the 
bursting of shells from the opposite side of the river, 
giving them the first intimation that the war was 
brought to their doors. It was evident at once that 
it would not do to have Chinese on both sides of them. 
Therefore all those in the city were ordered to go 
across the river and join their companions. Rafts 
were hastily constructed a little above the city, and the 
Chinese were forced upon them and told to work their 
way over to the other bank. For reasons not known, 
the Chinese soldiers on the other side began to can- 
nonade the rafts. A panic ensued, and in the com- 
motion the rafts went to pieces and the whole body of 
refugees perished in the river. It was full of their 



258 Story of My Life 

floating bodies when we were in the city. I counted 
a hundred at one time, as I looked down from a pro- 
tected place on the northern bank. But so far as we 
could see, and this was the opinion of Captain Smith- 
Dorrien, it was a casualty connected with a military 
necessity of self-defense for which the Russians could 
not be greatly blamed. 

Young as was the city, it had every mark of a high 
civilization. Churches of fine architectural character 
abounded. There was a large hospital, whose erec- 
tion had been stimulated by the success of Pasteur's 
method of treatment. There was a music store, at 
which I purchased a large quantity of Russian music, 
which Professor G. W. Andrews of Oberlin had com- 
missioned me to procure for him; while a short time 
before we were there Saint-SaeW opera of " Samson 
and Delilah " had been given in the city, the choruses 
being sung by local talent while the solos were given 
by the members of the opera troupe w T hich we heard in 
Vladivostok. 

After remaining about a week in this beleaguered 
city, we were able, by driving twenty miles across the 
country, to find a steamer which had brought Russian 
troops down and sent them overland for the defense 
of the city. This we boarded on its return trip for 
more soldiers. But as the Chinese still occupied the 
south side of the river, we were compelled to take 



J cross Asia 259 

staterooms on the other side of the bont. Progress 
was slow, partly because of shallow water, and partly 
from fear of attack. At Ignashina, the most northern 
point reached by the river, latitude 53 ° 40', we passed 
the ruins of the most flourishing Chinese settlement 
on the upper Amur, which five days before had been 
burned to the ground. But even at this high latitude 
we had failed to see any indications of glacial occupa- 
tion. At Pokrovka, w 7 here the Argun and Shilka unite 
to form the Amur, we turned up the Shilka and pro- 
ceeded to Stryetensk, where we met the trans-Siberian 
railroad. At various points below, we had passed 
many steamers with barges loaded with soldiers on 
their way to the seat of war, and a number of rafts, 
on which emigrants from Russia, with their live stock 
and their household goods, w r ere slowly floating down 
the stream to find homes in the fertile prairies that 
abound along the middle and lower Amur, the logs of 
the raft being available for the construction of the 
favorite Russian house. 

On arriving at Stryetensk, the terminus at that time 
of the Siberian railroad, Captain Smith-Dorrien and 
Mr. Wettekind separated themselves from us and 
w T ent forward from this point by express train, and 
we saw them no more. Captain Harford, however, 
went more leisurely, so that we met him again at Ir- 
kutsk, where we, also, finally separated. But it is 



260 Story of My Life 

pleasant to note that twice in subsequent years he 
turned aside to visit us in America, while passing to 
and from his post at Manila. 

TRANSBAIKALIA 

The distance from Stryetensk to Lake Baikal is 
about six hundred miles. The railway passes over 
the continental divide of Asia, rising to about four 
thousand feet a little west of Chita. The Yablonoi 
Mountains, forming the crest of this divide, run south- 
west to northeast, extending continuously from Mon- 
golia to Bering Strait. On the southeast they are bor- 
dered by a plateau about twenty-five hundred feet 
above the sea. This is here about two hundred miles 
w^ide, and possesses a climate and flora of its own, 
both of which are favorable to settlement. All grains 
ripen readily w T hen there is sufficient water, and every- 
where on the uplands there is good pasturage. Im- 
mense herds of cattle were visible almost everywhere 
from the car windows. Though the good land is by 
no means all occupied, there was already in Transbai- 
kalia a population of about 700,000. It is now 
900,000. 

Nerchinsk, the first principal town passed through 
west of Stryetensk, has been for two hundred years a 
center of mining operations, to which the government 
has sent convicts sentenced to hard labor. The citv 



Across Asia 261 

had in 1900 a population of 0,700, and the department 
of 91,000. Chita, a city of 12,000 (it is now 70,000), 
where we stopped two days, is the capital of the prov- 
ince. One is surprised not only at the beauty of its 
situation, but at the fertility of the surrounding coun- 
try. Its public and school buildings were numerous 
and imposing, but its streets entirely without pave- 
ments. 

The territory from Chita to Lake Baikal consists 
in the main of a plateau, three hundred miles wide 
and about five thousand feet above the sea, in which 
the headwaters of the Amur, the Lena, and the Yenisei 
take their rise at a common level. This tract is bleak 
and well-nigh uninhabitable. It, too, extends from 
the plains of Mongolia to the vicinity of Bering Strait. 
But the rivers have deeply eroded its surface, and fur- 
nished in their courses long lines of fertile fields. 
These are specially open to settlement towards the 
south. The railroad passes over the eastern border 
into the valley of the Khilok, and for two hundred 
miles finds productive lands, congenial climate, and 
prosperous settlements. At Petrovskia we found a 
large and flourishing village gathered about a blast 
furnace founded by Peter the Great. The iron ore is 
near by, and the mountains furnish wood for charcoal 
to an unlimited extent. 

At Verkhni Udinsk on the Selenga River we struck 



262 Story of My Life 

the great- caravan route from Kalgan, China, across 
Mongolia. Over this route for hundreds of years the 
tea and many other commodities used in Russia have 
been brought on camels' backs. The city had in 1900 
a population of 8,000. In midwinter, it is the scene 
of an enormous fair, at which millions of dollars' 
worth of goods are sold every year. Heretofore the 
best time to cross Lake Baikal and for traveling in 
general in this region has been in the winter, when it 
is frozen over. But all this has rapidly changed now 
that the railroad is an accomplished fact. 

LAKE BAIKAL 

Lake Baikal is one of the five largest bodies of fresh 
water in the world. It is more than four hundred 
miles long and from sixteen to fifty miles wide, hav- 
ing an area of 12,430 square miles. It lies in a longi- 
tudinal basin in a vast mountain plateau, which ex- 
tends in a northeasterly direction from Central Asia 
to Bering Strait. The northern half is shallow, being 
nowhere much more than two hundred feet in depth, 
while the southern part has the astonishing depth of 
4,186 feet. As the surface of the lake is only 1,561 
feet above sea level, its bottom must be 2,625 feet be- 
low sea level. Unlike the Great Lakes of America. 
Lake Baikal is not an aid, but a hindrance, to com- 
merce and travel. If the four hundred miles of its 



Across Asia 263 

length lay in the line of traffic, it could be utilized 
with profit for the use of steamboats. But, as it is, it 
lies directly athwart this line and presents its rugged 
shores and deep water as an obstruction, which can 
be overcome only by a detour of about tw r o hundred 
miles which the railroad is compelled to make around 
its southern end. Before the days of the railroad., 
however, it was utilized in the winter by sledges, 
which crossed on the ice and made it a scene of busy 
traffic. The great caravan route running from Kal- 
gan in China across the Mongolian desert, passing 
Urga and Kiakhta, then followed down the Selenga 
River to its mouth, whence, for several months in the 
winter, little villages used to dot the surface along 
the line of the route across the lake, and make every- 
thing gay and lively. 

The importance of this whole region is little under- 
stood by the general public outside of Russia. Lake 
Baikal separates two of the richest and most populous 
provinces of Siberia (Irkutsk and Transbaikalai) , prov- 
inces which have been settled for nearly three hun- 
dred years and at the close of the nineteenth century 
had a population of nearly 2,000,000, only six or seven 
per cent of whom were exiles, many of whom proved 
in the end to be most enterprising and patriotic citizens. 

In the thirteenth century the region just to the south 
played a most important part in the world's history. 



264 Story of My Life 

It was in the valley of the Onon River, near the head- 
waters of the Selenga, that Genghis Khan was born. 
After gaining the ascendency over the tribes in his own 
valley and recruiting his forces from the sympathetic 
inhabitants of the upper Selenga, this remarkable man 
conquered China, and, turning, swept with an irre- 
sistible force over the northwestern frontier of Mon- 
golia, thence down the depression followed by the 
Irtysh River and along the irrigated belt at the north- 
ern base of the Tian-Shan Mountains into Turkestan, 
and thence onward beyond the Caspian and Black seas 
to the banks of the Dnieper in Russia, where he won a 
great victory over the army of that nation. It was 
the westward wave of the Mongols from the valley 
of the Onon and the Selenga which drove the Turks 
across the Bosporus and so permanently affected the 
history of Europe. 

Lake Baikal presents scientific problems which are 
of great popular interest. One of these is the exist- 
ence in it of great numbers of arctic seal. As it is now 
1,561 feet above sea level, and, as the river runs, two 
thousand miles from the sea, it is an interesting ques- 
tion to determine how these seal could have got into 
the lake. The only satisfactory theory is that there 
has been a geologically recent depression of land, per- 
mitting arctic waters to extend all over northwestern 
Siberia to a depth of 1,500 to 2,000 feet. This would 



J cross Asia 2O5 

permit the distribution of the seal to Lake Baikal, as 
well as to the Aral and Caspian seas, where they are 
also found. On the reelevation of the land, these seas 
became separated, both from the ocean and each other, 
leaving the seal in these remote places. 

Another problem on which Lake Baikal sheds light, 
relates to the date of the great earth movements which 
took place during the Tertiary period. The depres- 
sion in which the lake is situated is still the center of 
important earthquakes. These are especially effective 
about the mouth of the Selenga River. As late as 
1862 an extensive area, covering the delta of this 
river, disappeared below the level of the lake, thus 
indicating that the deep w r ater at the south end is 
caused by the sinking of the bottom. In short, it is a 
synclinal basin formed during the geological disturb- 
ances which, all over the world, produced the moun- 
tain systems of the Tertiary period. By estimating the 
amount of sediment which comes down the Selenga 
River and settles in the southern basin, I have else- 
where * shown that it would have filled the whole 
basin in 500,000 years. But up to the present time it 
has accomplished less than one-quarter of this work, 
giving a maximum date of 100,000 years to the be- 
ginning of the geological convulsions which formed the 
lake. 

So far as we can see, Lake Baikal in the future is 



266 Story of My Life 

to render only two important services to the world; 
its innumerable sequestered nooks of great sublimity 
and beauty will provide summer retreats for the care- 
worn and weary multitudes that are destined to fill 
the adjoining regions; and it will be an unfailing 
reservoir, furnishing a constant supply of water for 
the power destined to be developed along the banks ot 
the rapid Angara River, which descends by a steep 
gradient to the city of Irkutsk. 

IRKUTSK TO KRASNOYARSK 

The gigantic mountain wall which surrounds Lake 
Baikal has an opening at one point only. This is well 
toward the southern end, and through it the clear 
sparkling water rushes with great rapidity, and in 
volume more than half that of Niagara. Forty miles 
below is the city of Irkutsk, between which and the 
lake steamers run with more regularity than is usual in 
Siberian waters, for so great is the reservoir that the 
depth of the stream varies but little. The descent is 
eighty feet, but, as the distance is greatly increased by 
the windings of the river, the current is easily over- 
come by the power of steam. Altogether the trip is 
delightful in the extreme. Irkutsk, the capital of 
central Siberia, in 1900 was a city of 70,000, in 1908 
had increased to 108,000. Its situation is in a beau- 
tiful broad valley, through which the Angara, the 



Across Asia 267 

principal eastern branch of the Yenisei, flows. The 
headwaters of the Lena River are not far to the north- 
east, making the city the commercial center of two of 
the largest river systems of the world. If we reckon 
the length of the Yenisei up the Angara to Lake 
Baikal, and thence up the Selenga to its source on the 
Mongolian plateau, we have a length of water course 
which exceeds the Missouri-Mississippi by two or 
three hundred miles. 

Like all Siberian cities, most of the houses in Irkutsk 
are made of logs. When we were there the principal 
hotel was of logs. But the city abounds in magnificent 
churches, and has an opera house equal to anything 
west of the Alleghanies in the United States, and a 
museum of imposing dimensions and impressive char- 
acter. We were invited to dinner by the Military 
Governor, who told us, as we came away, that the 
palatial dwelling in w T hich he resided was built by an 
exile, and was purchased from him by the govern- 
ment. This, wnth other similar experiences, led us to 
infer that the exiles had had unusual opportunities to 
select eligible places for residence, and to build up a 
civilization that must have gone far to discount the 
evils connected with the exile system. The fact is, 
that the most of the political exiles, especially those 
sent away for conspiring against the inauguration of 
Nicholas I., about 1825, represented the highest order 



268 Story of My Life 

of intelligence and enterprise of Russia, and carried 
with them into its wilds such a civilization that when 
their disabilities were removed they in considerable 
part elected to remain in Siberia. 

In Irkutsk we found bathhouses in abundance and 
a public reading room with a good supply of English 
papers and magazines. The boast of the city was that 
it had no municipal debt and that there was a con- 
siderable fund in hand to meet some of the necessary 
expenses. As an offset, however, it is to be noted that 
it had no pavements, no waterworks, no adequate 
sewers, no street cars, and no public electric lights. 
Doubtless all these conditions will change as a result 
of the vast movement of population into the whole re- 
gion since the opening of the present century. 

It is six hundred miles in a direct line from Irkutsk 
on the Angara to Krasnoyarsk on the Yenisei. The 
old Siberian wagon-road and now the railway traverse 
this along what was originally a nearly level plain of 
stratified rock. This area contains twice as much fer- 
tile soil as the state of Illinois and is destined event- 
ually to be as thickly populated. The climate, though 
cold in winter, is warm enough in summer to ripen 
most varieties of grain. The pastures are green and 
support large herds of cattle and horses as well as end- 
less flocks of sheep. The streams which cross the plain 



Across Asia 269 

come down from the Mongolian plateau at the south, 
and abound in placer mines in their upper portion-, 
so that long ago a line of flourishing towns had existed 
near where the rivers emerge from the auriferous belt. 
At Krasnoyarsk, where a Russian fort was es- 
tablished early in the seventeenth century, we found 
an attractive city of 20,000 inhabitants, which has 
since grown to 80,000. The Yenisei is here about the 
size of the Mississippi above its junction with the 
Missouri, but in its downward course it has come 
through very different scenery. For the first seventy- 
five miles above the city, the river winds its way 
through a tortuous channel which it has cut across a 
low mountain range parallel with the edge of the 
Mongolian plateau, which runs southwest and north- 
east. In ascending the river on the fine steamboats 
which ply upon its surface, one is struck with the num- 
ber and variety of rafts coming down stream, loaded 
with watermelons, hay, and grain, indicating a fruit- 
ful region above. The owners of these rafts, on reach- 
ing Krasnoyarsk, sell everything they have, even to 
the timbers of the raft, and remain in the city till the 
river freezes over, when they go back upon the ice. 

MINUSINSK 

After passing through this low mountain range, w r e 
emerge, in ascending the river, into an area of com- 



270 Story of My Life 

paratively level and very fertile land, about one hun- 
dred miles in diameter, which is appropriately spoken 
of as the Italy of Siberia. This is the district of 
Minusinsk, which, notwithstanding its secluded posi- 
tion, has been occupied by a highly civilized popula- 
tion from the earliest periods of history. To see the 
evidences of this in the admirable museum with which 
the city of Minusinsk is provided, we ascended the 
river three hundred miles from the railroad. 

The museum is a tribute to the enterprise and gen- 
erosity of one of its leading but most modest citizens, 
Mr. N. M. Martianoff, a pharmacist of the town, 
but a botanist of international reputation. In the 
work of collecting, however, he has been assisted 
iargely by several political exiles, prominent among 
whom was the brother of Prince Kropotkin, of whose 
tragic fate Mr. Kennan gives an account. In 1887 
there was erected a commodious two-story fireproof 
building to hold the large number of objects of local 
interest which were accumulating on his hands. This 
is now filled with more than 50,000 specimens, scien- 
tifically classified and arranged for the inspection of 
the public. With the exception of a small but excel- 
lent pedagogical section, the museum is entirely de- 
voted to the collection and preservation of objects 
from the vicinity. The rich mining region in the 
neighborhood supplies a remarkable variety of ores and 



Across As hi 271 

minerals, while the extensive Silurian, Devonian, Car- 
boniferous, and Jurassic strata of the vicinity furnish 
a very complete set of fossils for those portions of the 
geologic record. The flora of the region is also one of 
the richest in the world. This is represented in the 
museum by about 800 flowering and as many cryp- 
togamic species of plants; while, of the lower fungi, 
1,300 species have been collected, 124 of which, and, 
perhaps, more, are new. 

But to the ordinary visitor the archaeological and 
anthropological collections are of greatest interest. In- 
deed, so important are these that the societies at Stock- 
holm and Moscow have published elaborate mono- 
graphs upon them. The palaeolithic age is but slightly 
and doubtfully represented in the collection. The 
neolithic age, is, however, quite fully and certainly rep- 
resented by a variety of implements and some pottery 
which reminds one of the collections of Indian relics 
in America. But it is in the relics of the bronze age 
and of its transition into the iron age that the museum 
can specially glory. These have been collected from 
the mounds and burial places by the thousand. 
They consist of sw^ords, knives, daggers, axes, and 
ornaments of various kinds, all showing great skill 
in their manufacture and much taste in their design. 
Among the daggers are some w r ith iron handles and 
bronze blades, and others with bronze handles and 



272 Story of My Life 

iron blades. Among the objects disinterred are sev- 
eral silver medallions of the Han dynasty, in China, 
which must be more than 2,000 years old. These, 
with various other things, indicate a Chinese oc- 
cupancy at that early day. There are evidences, 
also, that even then the iron and copper mines of the 
region were w T orked. Some of the crucibles of that 
time are on exhibition in the museum. There are also 
various early inscriptions of uncertain significance, but 
evidently in alphabetical characters, gathered from the 
burial places and ruined shrines. The Post-Pliocene 
deposits, too, have yielded abundant relics of the mam- 
moth, the rhinoceros, and the gigantic elk that oc- 
cupied the region during the palaeolithic age. 

Altogether the museum is one of the most interest- 
ing to be found anywhere in the world, and it sheds a 
flood of light on the bright side of life in Siberia; for 
all the larger towns of Siberia are supplied with mu- 
seums which, by their appearance, bear witness not 
only to the high intelligence of their founders, but to 
the appreciation of the general public. Already the 
large room in which was collected the excellent library 
of this museum was overcrowded w T ith books, and a 
commodious fireproof library building was nearly com- 
pleted on a lot adjoining. All this in a secluded town 
three hundred miles from the main line of Siberian 
travel. 



J cross Asia 273 

KRASNOYARSK TO OMSK 

From Krasnoyarsk on the Yenisei to Omsk on the 
Irtysh River is 738 miles, but nearly the whole of the 
distance is within and directly across the drainage 
basin of the Obi River. The Chulym River, one of 
the principal eastern tributaries of the Obi, is crossed 
at Achinsk, only forty miles west of Krasnoyarsk. 
Indeed, in one place where the streams are still navi- 
gable, the tributaries of the Yenisei and of the Obi are 
within six miles of each other. It is a singular fact 
of physical geography that all the long branches of the 
Yenisei are on the east side, while most of those of 
the Obi are on the western side. But really the proper 
continuation of the Obi is its middle branch, the 
Irtysh, w T hich is in itself a river 1,800 miles in length, 
whose source is far up on the Mongolian plateau. 

The garden of western Siberia (south of the fifty- 
sixth degree of latitude) lies in the valley of the Obi 
for a distance of three hundred miles. Here there are 
100,000 square miles of well-watered, fertile prairie 
land, with a climate permitting the ripening of the 
most important cereals, and in every way as well 
adapted to cultivation as are the plains of Minnesota. 
Already there is in this -belt a population of nearly 
4,000,000. Much of the territory is also underlaid by 
coal-bearing deposits. Although these are mostly of 
Jurassic age, and carry a coal that is light — almost 



274 Story of My Life 

lignite — still it promises to supply the want of fuel 
fairly well, and is being mined extensively. Through- 
out most of Siberia, wood is still so plentiful that the 
locomotives ordinarily use it for fuel; but here they 
use domestic coal. 

At all the important places in Siberia touched by the 
railroad, new cities are growing up about the stations. 
The old cities are built almost entirely of wood. Even 
most of the best houses are of logs. But the new cities 
are growing up like magic out of brick. In due time 
all will have to follow suit and build of brick, for the 
wood is rapidly disappearing. Logs are, however, the 
easiest material from which to construct a house suited 
to withstand the severe winters of Siberia. 

The name of the station where the railroad crosses 
the Obi River is Ob, which until lately has not ap- 
peared on the maps. The old city on the river was 
called Krivostchekova, and was an important place of 
10,000 inhabitants. Connected with this place by 
steamer up the river are the flourishing cities of Bar- 
naul and Biisk, w T ith populations respectively of 61,000 
and 18,000; w T hile a short distance below is Tomsk, 
with a population of 112,000, and a university of wide 
renown. One finds, therefore, that in coming to this 
part of Siberia, he is not out of the world. The mass 
of the people look and appear much as they do in any 
European city. The teachers in the schools are highly 



Across Asia 275 

educated men. More than once, when my Russian 
and French were insufficient for conversation, I was 
asked to converse in Latin. 

But Omsk, on the Irtysh, is 333 miles west of Ob. 
Here we found a city, 184 years old, of 42,000 (it is 
now T 30,000) inhabitants, which reminded us more 
of America than anything else we had seen. Not that 
the architecture was like ours, for it w r as not. The 
houses w r ere nearly all of logs, and the schools and 
other public buildings of brick in plain style, painted 
white. The churches, too, were typically Russian, with 
lofty domes and cupolas. But there was a brisk com- 
mercial air about the place, which reminded one of the 
towns on the Ohio River. Steamboats w T ere coming 
and going, and the barges they had brought in were 
busy unloading their cargoes. Numerous rafts had 
also come down the river loaded with watermelons. 
In the stores the display of fruit was remarkable. But 
it w r as all imported. 

As there was no further light to be shed upon the 
Glacial epoch in western Siberia, w T e left the railroad 
at Omsk to visit Turkestan, the road to which w 7 ould 
lead us for many hundred miles along the base of the 
Tian-Shan Mountains, where we might hope to make 
observations concerning the glacial conditions of the 
mountainous regions of Central Asia. Here, there- 



276 Story of My Life 

fore, is the proper place to say a few words about the 
general conditions of Siberia. In comparing the sta- 
tistics at hand in 1900 with those of the present time, 
one is impressed with the rapid growth of that portion 
of the Russian Empire. In 1900 the population of 
Siberia proper was approximately 7,600,000. Accord- 
ing to the available statistics in 191 2, the latest at 
hand, it had risen to 10,800,000. In several of the 
provinces, the growth has been really phenomenal. 
The population of Tomsk has increased from 1,929,- 
092 to 3,855,200; Yeniseisk has increased from 559,- 
902 to 970,800; the maritime provinces from 220,557 
to 572,000. 

This growth has been largely through immigration, 
although the birth rate in Siberia is phenomenally 
large. The settlers consist of Cossacks and peasants, 
who have emigrated in villages, carrying w T ith them 
their communal organization. To a large extent the 
immigrants have been directed by the government to 
the outlying portions of the country, especially towards 
the Mongolian border, where they would provide a 
natural defense of the country. The Russian govern- 
ment secures remarkably cheap transportation for the 
immigrants and lends them money without interest 
for several years until they become established, and 
only then imposes taxes upon them. 

The future of Siberia is one of great promise. Else- 



J cross Asia 277 

where (in "Asiatic Russia") I have estimated that 
nine states of the size of Illinois, and with ahout equal 
agricultural resources, could be carved out of the ter- 
ritory of southern Siberia; while the mining interests, 
the water power, and the facilities for internal naviga- 
tion render the population independent of outside com- 
merce, except in exchange for various luxuries of the 
tropics and the products of older civilizations. Siberia 
alone can easily support a population of 100,000,000. 

FOURTEEN HUNDRED MILES BY TARANTASS 

The exact distance was 1,406 miles. We did not 
contemplate quite so long a ride; for our plan was to 
ascend the Irtysh River from Omsk to Semipalatinsk, 
and go by tarantass from that city to Tashkent, in 
Turkestan, which would be a round twelve hundred 
miles. But the water in the Irtysh River was so low 
that we had to abandon the steamboat when a little 
more than half w^ay up, and begin our tarantass ex- 
perience at Pavlodara, two hundred miles below Semi- 
palatinsk. 

The postroads of the Russian Empire are one of its 
most commendable features. There are 12,979 miles 
of them in its Asiatic domain. These run from the 
Ural Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, and from the 
Caspian Sea to the Peninsula of Kamchatka. So good 
are these roads, and so perfect are the arrangements 



278 Story of My Life 

for transportation over them, that the delay in build- 
ing railroads has not been so keenly felt as it other- 
wise would have been. We have heard much about 
the rapid traveling in Siberia by sledges in winter, but 
travel in the summer is equally expeditious. 

All along these post routes, stations are extablished 
at an average distance of twelve or fifteen miles apart. 
At each station there is a comfortable house, with two 
or three public rooms provided with from two to four 
sofas or mattresses, a few chairs, and a table and look- 
ing-glass. A family occupies the house, and is bound 
to be ready, at very small cost, to provide each com- 
pany of travelers with hot water and bread ; usually, 
also, with milk and eggs. The traveler is expected to 
provide himself with tea and sugar, and to carry his 
own pillows, sheets, and blankets. At each station, 
also, the government provides a bountiful supply of 
horses. Over the route of our travel there were from 
twenty-five to thirty at each station. But that does 
not always insure prompt attention; for the govern- 
ment is merciful to its animals, and rigidly enforces 
the rule that the horses shall have three hours' rest 
between trips. It not infrequently happens, therefore, 
that the traveler has to spend several of the best hours 
of the day in waiting for the horses to fill out their 
allotted times of rest. But, with this exception, the 
station master is compelled at any hour of the day or 



Across Asia 279 

night to provide you with an outfit to carry you to 
the next station with the greatest possible despatch. 

As to tarantasses, each station has a sufficient sup- 
ply on hand ; but persons who take long journeys usu- 
al ly prefer to have their own, so as to avoid the fre- 
quent transfers of baggage. As our journey was a 
long one, we decided to buy a tarantass at once. At 
the station house at Pavlodara we found a second- 
hand, or more probably a fourth-hand, one for sale. 
In its day it had been one of the most elegant and 
luxurious of its kind. But all tarantasses are essen- 
tially alike. The general shape of the box in which 
you ride is like that of a modern bathtub. There are 
no seats inside. You are expected to have mattresses 
and pillows enough to cover the bottom, and to ride 
in a reclining position. Thus it is really a sleeping 
coach, in which, over smooth roads, one can travel 
as well by night as by day. 

Our tarantass was provided with a top cover of 
leather over the rear end, and an ample leather apron 
to pull up before us when necessary to keep out the 
rain or dust or wind or cold air. Like all others, 
this riding gear was mounted upon a sort of " buck- 
board " arrangement which had little spring, but was 
very strong. It was all anchored to the axletrees by 
large and firmly bolted iron rods. As it had already 
seen much service, we thought the weak points had 



St€ Iy Life 

been well red by a process of natural selection; 

so that what was left could be trusted to endure to 

the end. It was a " troika." — a vehicle drawn by three 

x, — one in the shs fts I the vehicle and hold 

it back when going down hill, the other two, one on 

\ A bell was ^on the horses' 

3 in turn, being changed from one to the oth 

en the spii mi to flag. 

With the heads of the twp draft horses turned out- 
Is to watch the flourish of the driver's whip, we 
the appearance of a Roman chariot race as 
we g along from station to station. 

The tarantass cos: us eighty roubles, about fort;. 
dollars. We should have paid only about thirty 
lars foi it : but our haste and lack of familiarity with 
the language put us at a disadvantage. We expe 

at Tashkent at an equal disadvantage. But 

: we could do; and, even if it wer 

this would rot be relatively great, provided 

it got us safely through. Of one thing we felt 

fiden: that the wheels were strong and sound. 

before we were two miles on our way, one of the 

As :ame off as we were going at a rapid rate. 

It took us some time to find what was the matter. 

But at length it appeared that the " box M was loose, 

the hub had come off v ;-t the axletree 

down with a heavy thud. The fact that the axletree 



Across Asia 281 

was neither broken nor sprung was reassuring. Our 
driver ingeniously fixed matters up so that we reached 
the next station safely. There ready hands aided 
to wedge the box in so firmly that it gave us no further 
trouble. It was, however, the cause of much anxiety; 
for it had dispelled the illusion that there could be no 
new breaks in our old tarantass, and we were kept 
constantly on the lookout thereafter to discover any 
new weak points. Every day revealed some, but they 
were not serious. We had to see to it that the wheels 
were well oiled, and take upon ourselves various other 
responsibilities that would have been borne by the sta- 
tion masters if we had depended on the public vehicles. 
This was the only drawback to being the owner of the 
carriage. 

The drivers were mostly Kirghiz Tartars, who 
took delight in displaying their skill in exacting a high 
rate of speed from their teams, especially when meet- 
ing other teams or passing through villages. When- 
ever the roads permitted it, they drove at a full 
lop ; and where the roads did not properly permit it, 
they still drove on at the same rate. This was what 
brought out the weak points in our tarantass, as well 
as in our own bodily framework. Ordinarily we drove 
only by daylight; but we averaged eighty-three miles 
per day, making the whole 1,406 miles in seventeen 
days of actual driving. It had taken us the same length 



282 Story of My Life 

of time to come the same distance by steamboats up 
the Amur River from Khabarovsk to Stryetensk. One 
day when we drove most of the night we made one 
hundred and thirty-five miles. 

The first two hundred miles, being up the east bank 
of the Irtysh River, was for the most part uneventful. 
The roads were smooth ; there were no mountains in 
sight; the Kirghiz Tartars tending their flocks, or 
gathering their supply of hay for the winter from the 
river bottoms, were just what we had seen from the 
deck of the steamer. After taking the tarantass the 
monotony was relieved, at one of the first stations, by 
meeting an officer with his wife and little girl and their 
household cat. Greatly to our surprise and delight 
the man was an American, and could talk English. 
He had been the leader of a band in a Russian regi- 
ment for twenty-five years, and had then just come 
on a furlough from Naryn, a fort on the Chinese bor- 
der eight hundred miles away. But the meeting was 
for only a half hour, and we passed on in opposite di- 
rections. 

We rested a day at Semipalatinsk. Here we found 
a city of 35,000 inhabitants, about one-half Moham- 
medans, engaged largely in trade. It came into the 
possession of the Russians in 171 8. The city occupies 
a most important position on a great river, which comes 



Across Asia 2 S3 

down from Mongolia through the Sungarian depres- 
sion, forming one of the main gateways to Central 
Asia. During high water small steamers ascend two 
or three hundred miles further and rafts come down 
from several hundred miles above and bring the prod- 
uce of the country for exchange; while caravans are 
continually coming and going between this place and 
Kobdo, a Chinese city of much importance on the 
Mongolian plateau. Much trade is also maintained 
with the extensive mining region in the Altai Moun- 
tains, which lie about one hundred miles to the south- 
east. 

Soon after our arrival at Semipalatinsk, our pass- 
ports were called for. By this time they were a sight 
to behold. In addition to having been already fre- 
quently viseed by the Russians, they had passed, as be- 
fore remarked, through the hands of the Chinese at 
Peking, and there had been almost completely covered 
with unintelligible Chinese characters, including two 
immense seal impressions each as large as a man's hand. 
As it was now a time of war with China, this created 
suspicion, and we were personally summoned to the po- 
lice station. Fortunately we had with us also a letter 
from the Russian Ambassador at Peking commending 
us and our work to the authorities in Manchuria and 
Siberia. This paved the way for a gracious reception, 
and we were speedily sent on our way with a new en- 



284 Story .of My Life 

dorsement on our passports. Instead of being disturbed 
by this surveillance, we were really comforted ; for it 
was evident that all suspicious characters were 
watched, and that the strong arm of a Christian civili- 
zation was about us to give protection on our further 
journey. 

The first two hundred miles out from Semipalatinsk 
carried us over the watershed between the Irtysh River 
and the basin of Lake Balkash, one of the larger of 
the numerous bodies of water in Turkestan which 
have no outlets. The watershed is not more than 
1,500 feet above the sea, and consists, for the most 
part, of a comparatively level surface of very old and 
deeply disintegrated granitic rocks, with little depth 
of soil. What with this and the absence of rain, the 
country is barren, and incapable of settlement. Usu- 
ally there were no settlements between the stations, 
and it had evidently been difficult to find water suf- 
ficient to supply their needs. Even the Kirghiz 
Tartars, with their movable flocks and felt tents, were 
infrequent occupants of the region. 

A typical Tartar family is the following, which we 
met one day: The Tartar woman, with partially 
veiled face, was riding a cow followed by its calf, 
carrying in her arms a child, and leading three camels 
tied together tandem, upon which were loaded the 
tents and all the household utensils of the family. 



Across Asia 285 

The man was a little to one side, driving with dif- 
ficult} 7 a number of horses, while two boys were rid- 
ing a steer and driving a small flock of sheep. Camels 
were so numerous that we ceased to count them. Dur- 
ing one day when we took pains to count we found 
that we had met, or passed, 2,500, some of which 
were carrying iron five hundred miles beyond Semi- 
pal at insk. 

At the first station west of Semipalatinsk we met 
with one of the few delays caused by the merciful re- 
gard of the government for their horses. We had to wait 
three hours in the middle of the day for them to rest. 
But here we found ourselves in company with two 
ladies who had come with us on the steamboat from 
Omsk, and were going by tarantass to Verni, about 
five hundred miles farther on. They were, it seemed, 
mother and daughter (the former about fifty, and the 
latter about twenty-five, years of age) who had been 
to Moscow on a visit, and took this trip with as little 
concern as they would have done in the United States 
the journey by rail from New York to Omaha. 

We kept together to the next station, when, in due 
time, both our teams were harnessed and hitched to 
the tarantasses nearly ready to proceed. Suddenly our 
traveling companions started their horses at a furious 
rate, and we followed suit. The occasion of this 
hasty departure was soon evident. The ladies were 



286 Story of My Life 

wiser than we. A tarantass was approaching in the 
distance. If that should happen to contain an officer 
with a special commission, and he should arrive before 
we had started, he could take our horses from us, and 
compel us to wait another three hours. By starting 
before the arrival, this danger would be avoided. 
Hence our precipitate haste. Once past, we paused, 
and completed the adjustment of our harnesses, and 
then went on at our leisure. 

We arrived at the next station about ten o'clock at 
night, and made arrangements, as we supposed, to 
start at half-past three in the morning. But the sta- 
tion master understood us to say three hours, instead of 
three o'clock, and wakened us at half-past one, with 
the announcement that our team was ready. As our 
lady friends were still asleep in their tarantass, wait- 
ing a more seasonable hour, we were separated from 
them, and saw them no more. A day or tw T o later we 
fell in company w T ith an elegantly dressed and delicate 
lady, apparently more than seventy years of age, 
traveling with her son. We were with them two days 
going over a very hilly road. She rarely alighted from 
her tarantass, except for meals, but showed no signs of 
weariness or discomfort. 

At Sergiapol, on the Ayaguz River, one hundred 
and sixty miles from Semipalatinsk, we came into the 
inclosed basin of Lake Balkash, and continued in it 



Across Asia 287 

for the next four hundred miles. For the first' two 
hundred of this distance, while passing the eastern end 
of the lake, the road often led across the bottom of 
minor inclosed basins which had formerly been filled 
with water, but were now completely dried up. Lake 
Balkash is now but an insignificant remnant of what 
it used to be. It formerly extended over an area of 
100,000 square miles or more; whereas now it scarcely 
covers 10,000. Originally the bottoms of these desic- 
cated areas w T ere smooth enough to furnish the best 
of roads, but after long use they have been so irregu- 
larly cut up by the carriage wheels that they are now 
the worst of all. The jolting over them w T as some- 
thing fearful. It was here that we met a tarantass 
drawn by seven horses all abreast. The jolting with 
three horses (the number we uniformly had) was all 
that we or our tarantass could endure. What the 
occupants of the seven-horse carriage did was more 
than we could imagine. 

After passing the eastern end of Lake Balkash, we 
began to cross the series of spurs extending in a west- 
erly direction from the Ala-tau Mountains, which were 
encountered more or less frequently all the rest of our 
journey. The first one w T as what appeared to be a low 
range of slate hills in front of us about eight hundred 
feet high. As we approached it over the parched soil 



288 Story of My Life 

of the plain, we saw ahead of us a little spot of green, 
which proved to be where a small mountain stream 
was wasting itself in the desert sand. Above, a long 
line of green marked its course from the hills, and it 
continually increased in volume as we ascended. Fol- 
lowing it into the gorge which it had cut for itself 
through the escarpment, w T e soon found ourselves in 
a most picturesque enlargement, with precipitous walls 
of rock, three hundred or four hundred feet high, ris- 
ing on all sides, and surrounding a plot of rich sedi- 
mentary soil sufficient for a village site. Here was our 
station, surrounded by numerous Tartar tents and 
adobe houses. The gurgling water of the brook, and 
the trees and grass which grew within its life-giving in- 
fluence, were in striking contrast to the desolation of 
the region through w^hich we had been driving. We 
were not sorry that it was necessary to delay here long 
enough during the middle of the day to have the tire 
set on one of our wheels. It was like the lodge in a 
vast wilderness for which the Psalmist sighed, that he 
might be at rest. 

On following up the stream, we found its explana- 
tion. The hills which we saw on approaching this 
picturesque oasis were covered with mellow soil, which 
absorbed sufficient water from the winter snows to 
give out a perpetual supply to the lower portions dur- 
ing the entire summer. The plateau was much higher 



Across Asia 289 

than it looked to be; and, as height after height was 
reached, broader and broader valleys opened out, with 
rich herbage for the sheep and cattle and camels of 
numerous Tartar settlements. 

We stayed that night at a station called Romanov- 
skia, on the Lepsa River, which in its upper portion 
irrigates an extensive area at the base of the Ala-tau 
Mountains, but here it has sunk its channel so deeply 
in the plain that the water is not available except to 
a very limited extent along its surrounding flood plain. 
As we started out in the morning, a new range of 
mountains came in sight across the whole southern 
horizon ; but, owing, as we thought, to the haziness of 
the atmosphere, they seemed very dim. Soon, how- 
ever, we discovered that what we took, at first, for 
fleecy patches of cloud were glaciers and snowy masses 
on mountains which towered far above the interven- 
ing foothills. With them ever in view, we drove on 
forty-five miles, past two stations hidden in the 
troughs of small streams, where alone verdure was 
found, and changed horses a little before sunset at 
the base of the first low range. This rose very abruptly 
from the plain, and here completely shut out from 
view the lofty peaks beyond. But after winding our 
way up the steep gradient of a waterworn gorge to 
a height of 1,300 feet above the station, and 3,800 
feet above the sea, the summit of a broad plateau was 



290 Story of My Life 

reached, and the higher peaks burst again on our view- 
in all the splendor of the reflected rays of the setting 
sun. But we were still scarcely half way to them. 
Between us and them was another intermediate range 
still higher than the one we were on, but quite below 
the snow line. The farther range we had before us 
was higher than the Alps, having peaks running up 
to 17,000 feet. 

For two days longer we skirted the edge of this 
mountain range, passing around, through the small 
but bustling city of Kopal, to the west and southwest 
sides with its snow-covered peaks ever in view. The 
glacier-fed streams brought with them fertility to the 
narrow belt of loam over which their waters were 
spread. The tents of the Kirghiz Tartars dotted the 
landscape everywhere, and prosperous villages of Rus- 
sian peasants, with their thrifty rows of poplar trees, 
their enormous stacks of grain, and their imposing 
churches, made us forget the wide desert everywhere 
surrounding us. 

On the third day we lost sight of these mountains; 
but about noon, after a tedious ride over a long line of 
sand dunes, we reached the banks of the Hi River, and 
saw before us another section of the Ala-tau range, as 
lofty and grand as those we had left behind. This 
river comes down through a valley many miles wide 
and by a very gradual descent from the populous dis- 



Across Asia 291 

trict of Kuldja, on the Mongolian plateau, and fur- 
nishes another of the important gateways to Central 
Asia. It is a large stream, several hundred miles long, 
with its headwaters in the Tian-Shan Mountains, and 
is the largest tributary to Lake Balkash. But it has 
worn so deep a trough in the lower part of its plain 
that its waters are unavailable there for irrigation. 
Its lower course is simply a hidden streak of green 
through vast desert wastes. 

In the irrigated amphitheater at the base of the 
mountains that were now before us, Verni, a city of 
30,000 inhabitants, lies hidden in a forest of trees 
which have been planted beside the irrigating channels 
which here are made to utilize the mountain streams 
to the utmost. It rained during the night and fore- 
noon. But when the clouds cleared away, the semi- 
circle of peaks rising 12,000 feet above the city were 
perfectly dazzling in their covering of new-fallen 
snow. Here, too, five hundred miles from navigable 
rivers and nine hundred from a railroad, was a busy 
center of strange life. Caravans of camels and trains 
of oxcarts were coming and going with their precious 
loads of merchandise; people of strange looks and 
stranger manners crowded the streets and thronged 
the markets; while, over all, was spread the pervading 
influence of Russian civilization. Christian churches 



292 Story of My Life 

and conspicuous Russian public-school buildings, he- 
sides those equally conspicuous for the use of the army 
and the civil service, are mingled with the minarets 
of Mohammedan mosques and with the bazaars, 
where the native population effect the exchange of all 
kinds of produce and manufacture. The trimly uni- 
formed Cossack, the well-dressed Russian lady, the 
plain-faced, barefooted Russian peasant woman, the 
turbaned Kirghiz Tartar on horseback with h:s par- 
tially veiled black-eyed spouse surmounting the entire 
equipage of their tent packed on the back of a camel, 
crowd through the streets, jostling each other in a way 
that is beyond description. 

From Verni to Aulieata is 284 miles. The entire 
distance is along the base of lofty mountain ranges, 
with numerous peaks 15,000 feet high, and 12,000 
feet above the irrigated belt along which the road led. 
Before we hail lost sight of the snow-clad peaks of 
the Ala-tau back of Verni, those of the Alexander 
Range, equally high, came into view. Meanwhile we 
had left the valley of the Hi River and the basin of 
Lake Balkash, and come into that of the river Chu, 
reaching Pishpek late in the evening of the second day. 
This river has its source in the Issyk-kul, a large lake 
150 miles long and 50 broad, which lies in a depression 
of the Ala-tau Mountains south of Verni, 5,000 feet 
above the sea. The river runs a course of several 



J cross Asia 293 

hundred miles Into the desert region to the northwest, 
between the basins of Lake Balkash ar.d the Aral Sea, 
and there wastes itself in uninhabitable marshy lagoons 
which have no outlet. But the upper portion of its 
valley near the base of the mountains is a picture of 
fertility. In addition to the frequent clusters of mud 
houses and felt tents and the countless flocks of the 
Kirghiz Tartars, there are numerous villages of Rus- 
sian peasants, with their long rows of poplar trees, 
their swarms of flaxen-haired children, and, at this 
season of the year, the immense stacks of hay and grain 
which bear unmistakable evidence of their prosperity 
and contentment. 

Aulieata on the Talas River is still in the inclosed 
basin between those of Lake Balkash and the Aral Sea. 
But its irrigating stream comes dow T n from the op- 
posite side of the Alexander Range, and w r astes itself 
in the Kara Kul marshes before reaching the Chu. 
The irrigated section, howrver, supports a population 
w T hich has created here a bustling city of 12,000 in- 
habitants. The mobilization of a regiment of Cossack 
troops the day we passed through the place gave ad- 
ditional liveliness and variety to the scene. 

From Aulieata to Tashkent is 160 miles. In the 
afternoon w T e ascended the gentle slope of the low 
mountain range w T hich separates the basin of the Chu 
from that of the Syr Daria (the ancient Jaxartes), 



294 Story of My Life 

which flows into the Aral Sea. The ascent of 1,200 
feet was equivalent, in its effect on the temperature, 
to going several degrees farther north, so that we 
found the night air of the last days of September too 
chilly for comfort, and were glad enough to take early 
shelter in a comfortable station house, and wait for 
the morning sun to pour its genial rays upon us. 

The second morning from Aulieata brought us to 
Chimkent, a city of 10, coo inhabitants, on a tributary 
of the Syr Daria. Here our postroad was joined by 
the great road # coming from Orenburg, 1,000 miles to 
the north, and passing to the east of the Aral Sea and 
following up the Syr Daria through a number of 
small cities. Since w^e were there, however, a r;ilroad 
has been built all the way from Orenburg. About 
one hundred miles to the north is the interesting city 
of Turkestan, with 12,000 inhabitants. Here it is 
w T ell to remember that each city of that size means a 
large irrigated tract with a much larger range of arid 
pasture land surrounding it. 

Tashkent was less than seventy miles distant, and 
with no delay we could easily have driven the dis- 
tance before night. But as we appror.ched the g^eat 
centers, the horses were more and more in use, so that 
delays became frequent, and we were compelled to 
spend another night in a station house, or rather in 



Across Asia 295 

two station houses ; for, after three hours' rest in one, 
we availed ourselves of a fresh team in the middle of 
the night, to find that at the next station we must wait 
three more hours. But soon after sunrise we entered 
the outskirts of the great city, driving for miles be- 
tween long rows of mud walls and lofty silver poplar 
trees and across countless irrigating ditches, and with 
greater and greater difficulty dodging the increasing 
throngs of loaded camels and horses and donkeys and 
cattle which filled the streets. In due time, however, 
we were brought to the broad streets and beautiful 
avenues of the Russian part of the city, and to the 
Gostenitza Europanski (European Hotel), where we 
engaged the best room for fifty cents a day, and where, 
before noon, we had sold our tarantass for twenty-five 
roubles ($12.50), and were ready to attend to the 
sights of the city. 

Tashkent is the capital of Turkestan, and had in 
1900 a population of 156,414, about 25,000 of whom 
were Russians. Now its population numbers 271,000. 
The Russians took the city in 1866, and put an end 
to the turbulent condition of things which had previ- 
ously existed. Their own part of the city is luxuri- 
ously shaded and provided with parks, and adorned 
with fine public buildings. Its public library has the 
largest collection in the world of books on Asia. But 
the native city is simply a mass of mud walls, inclos- 



296 Story of My Life 

ing narrow winding alleys, and full of filth}' people 
and bad odors. Their bazaar is famous for both- these 
qualities, but is so interesting that o^e finds it difficult 
to keep away. It is simply a block of the narrow 
streets covered with an awning of matting to keep 
out the sun, making its general appearance much like 
some of the lower parts of New York City where 
shaded by the elevated railway. Here everything the 
country affords can be had, from a camel to a cambric 
needle. 

Tashkent was the end of our tarantass journey 
and the beginning of a railroad journey of another 
fourteen hundred miles to the Caspian Sea. Severe 
as were some of the experiences, we were sorry to 
part company with our tarantass and its ambitious 
horses and jolly drivers. On reckoning up, we fovnd 
that we had been faithfully served by 276 horses and 
92 drivers. Indeed, nothing can be more invigorating 
than to roll along in a tarantass over the smooth Si- 
berian roads at the rate of ten miles an hour behind 
three prancing horses urged on by an ambitious Tartar 
driver. Nor can anything be more impressive and in- 
spiring than to be permitted to divide one's attention 
between the glacier-clad peaks of the Ala-tau Moun- 
tains on the one side and the countless flocks and tents 
of the Kirghiz Tartars as they fade away into the 



J cross Asia 297 

glamor of the desert mirage on the other. The moun- 
tains and the desert are both most mysterious in their 
inaccessibility, and equally suggestive to the imagin- 
ation. And they are both present on too grand a scale 
ever to be deformed by the ruthless hand of civiliza- 
tion. At the present time the railroad is extended east- 
wards along the route we followed, well on to Verni; 
aiming to cross Mongolia to Vladivostok. 

The fertility and importance of the belt of land 
which we traversed is indicated by the population 
which it at present supports, which is not far from 
5,000,000. The most of these are Kirghiz Tartars, 
who are living in the same manner that their ancestors 
did three thousand years ago. There are, on an aver- 
age, four sheep to each human being, and two horses, 
two cows, and a camel to every family. For pastur- 
age they roam widely over the adjoining desert while 
the vegetation is green, but their main dependence for 
grain is upon the irrigated belt at the foot of the moun- 
tains. In ancient times the irrigation was much more 
extensive than it is now. But with proper attention 
and settled government the irrigated area may now 
be increased threefold. Everywhere the Russians have 
brought order and increased fertility. The conquest 
by Russia has exactly reversed former conditions. 
From having been a center of disturbance from which 
the warlike Mongols used to roll over into Europe, 



298 Story of My Life 

carrying desolation wherever they went, and spread- 
ing terror far beyond the actual limit of their con- 
quest, it has come to be one of the most valuable prov- 
inces of the Russian Empire, and one w T here some of 
the most interesting problems of modern civilization 
are in process of settlement. 

SAMARKAND 

From Tashkent to Samarkand is 175 miles over the 
Central railroad of Asia. About sixty miles from the 
city the railroad crosses the Syr Daria River, and is 
joined by a branch coming down from Andidjan, 170 
miles through the fertile province of Ferghana, which 
is the present limit of the Russian domain in that di- 
rection. This is one of the richest and most populous 
of all the Russian possessions in Turkestan, and is the 
gateway to the Pamir, which extends southward to 
Afghanistan and India, over the highest plateau in 
the world. It is buttressed on its four corners by the 
Ala-tau, the Tian-Shan, the Hindu Kush, and the 
Himalaya Mountains, and is appropriately called the 
" Roof of the World. " Nowhere is this plateau less 
than 10,000 feet above sea level, and much of it is 
14,000 feet. 

Ferghana itself is a w T ell-watered valley of more than 
40,000 square miles, between lofty mountain ranges. 
It has five cities with more than 35,000 inhabitants 



//cross Asia 299 

each, Kokand, its capital, having 82,000. The entire 
province tributary to this branch of the railroad has a 
population of 2,100,000, while the population of the 
province of Samarkand amounts to 1,200,000. But 
these statistics give only a faint idea of the vast human 
interests represented in this desert-encircled area ren- 
dered fertile by streams descending from these inacces- 
sible snow-clad mountain peaks. In both these prov- 
inces the interests are predominantly agricultural, and 
those of the nomad population secondary. Manufac- 
turing is also of more varied forms, and on a larger 
scale. For ages the inhabitants have maintained a high 
degree of civilization independent of the outside world. 
But there are nomad Kirghiz Tartars enough in the 
provinces to give variety to the scene. I believe it is 
that veracious observer, Mark Tw T ain, who speaks of 
having seen the natives in Australia plowing with a 
team of kangaroos. I have not seen anything so won- 
derful as that, but I have seen a team of camels draw- 
ing a plow, and in one case a camel and a horse 
hitched together to do the same service. Nor is it any 
uncommon thing to see a man or a woman riding a 
lusty steer and leading a long string of camels. It 
will be a great while before the railroad and Russian 
civilization will banish all such incongruous sights. 

The city of Samarkand had in 1900 a population of 



300 Story of My Life 

56,000, of whom 16,000 were Russians, and the rest 
mostly Sarts. In 191 2 its population had increased to 
90,000. It was taken by the Russians in 1808, and the 
growth of their colony gives some idea of the rapidity 
with which they are exerting their power in this di- 
rection, and of the firmness of their grasp. As in all 
the other larger centers, however, so here, the Russian 
element lives apart from the native, and constitutes 
a city by itself, fashioned in every respect after the best 
models of European towns. The well-dressed women 
and the fine equipages one meets on the street would 
make him forget that he w T as so far away from the 
great centers of civilization, were it not for the con- 
stant presence everywhere of the military uniform. 
The present government is a military government. 
The Russians do not yet trust the native population. 
It is not taken into the army. Farther w T est the Tur- 
komans of the Transcaspian province have, to some ex- 
tent, been drawn upon to fill depleted regiments; but 
the Sarts and Kirghiz Tartars of this region have not 
as yet been thus honored. The general interest in 
army affairs was exhibited in Samarkand one Sunday 
evening in a fair held by the Red Cross Society for 
the benefit of the suffering soldiers in China. The 
fair was in the well-shaded park of the Russian city, 
which was brilliantly illuminated. An admittance of 
twenty-five cents was charged, but the fair was 



J cross Asia 30 1 

crow (K'i1 by natives as well as by Russians. I believe 
that the admission was less for the ratives, and it must 
be added that one of the ; ttractions was a lottery, at 
which the daughter of one of the high officials pre- 
sided. 

Samarkand is in every respect the mos. interesting 
city of Turkestan. Surrcunded on three sides by 
snow-covered mountains, but itself in a verdure-clad 
valley of great productiveness, it has from ancient 
times been called the Eye of the World. About the 
close of the fourteenth and the beginning of the 
fifteenth century, Timur the Tartar, more com- 
monly known as Tamerlane, established his capital 
here, and from it well nigh ruled the world, extend- 
ing his dominion from Russia to the Persian Gulf, 
and from Constantinople to the Ganges. Timur 
likewise made Samarkand a great center of learning, 
and he and his successors adorned it with buildings 
whose proportions and beauty challenge, even in their 
ruins, the admiration of the world. Four hundred 
years of neglect and numerous earthquakes have well 
nigh destroyed two or three of these splendid edifices, 
but they all now rear their domes and arches and cam- 
paniles high above the mud dwellings of the present 
wretched city, and look down upon the Babel of an 
Eastern market place where everything is sold, from 
cotton and wool and silk, to perishable fruit, old 



J02 Story of My Life 

clothes, and scrap iron. The best preserved of these 
is known as the Rigistan. This is a square of two 
hundred and fifty feet, open to the street on the south 
side, but inclosed on the other three sides by lofty, 
well-proportioned buildings, brilliant in harmonious 
colors of enameled brick. Beautiful-shaped campaniles 
adorn the corners, and noble archways lead into in- 
terior courts surrounded by cloisters for Mohammedan 
mollahs. During the Middle Ages the tenants of these 
cloisters carried the study of mathematics and astron- 
omy to a high degree of perfection, and made their 
city renowned for learning as well as for war. But 
now these tenants are a miserable set, only waiting for 
another earthquake to put an end to their whole busi- 
ness. The campaniles are already far out of plumb, 
and the noise of the market in the square drowns the 
devotions of the faithful Mohammedans in the crum- 
bling chapels still in use. 

A few hundred yards to the northeast of the Rigis- 
tan are the still more extensive ruins of the Bibi Khan, 
the archway and towers of whose facade were pro- 
nounced by Vambery a model for such buildings. 
This, too, was richly colored with enameled brick. 
At one time it is said to have sheltered as many as a 
thousand students, but earthquakes have nearly com- 
pleted its ruin. One of its domes and two of its lofty 
arches still stand, though ready to fall. Still farther 



Across Asia 303 

cast are the graves of Timur's wives and sisters. 
These consist of a series of domes, with interior decor- 
ations of marvellous beauty, crowning successive ter- 
races reached by forty marble steps. They are still in 
a fair state of preservation, though birds find a wel- 
come home on all the cornices, and the dust-laden 
winds have free course everywhere. Still, they con- 
tinue to stand as noble monuments, all the more con- 
spicuous by reason of the repellent character of every- 
thing else in the neglected Mohammedan cemetery to 
which they form an entrance. 

A quarter of a mile to the southwest of the Rigis- 
tan is the grave of Timur himself. Here, too, recent 
earthquakes have wrought the ruin of a portion of the 
noble pile, but have left uninjured the chapel and lofty 
dome above the grave itself. This is covered with a 
large piece of rare jade, and the chapel and whole in- 
terior of the dome are adorned with elegant arabesques 
and inscriptions of gold. Everything about it, both 
outside and in, is most impressive and appropriate. 
Indeed, in its time, the splendor of this city w r as un- 
excelled anywhere in the world. And it w T as not bar- 
baric splendor, but that of the highest art of the Sar- 
acens. Those who would view it, however, even in 
ruins, must make haste, for time has already nearly 
completed its destructive w T ork. 



304 Story of My Life 

After crossing the Amu Daria River, in going from 
Samarkand to the Caspian Sea, the railroad wends its 
way for a long distance through the dreary wastes of 
the desert of Kara Kum ; but, on approaching the delta 
of the Alurgab River, enters another scene of fertility 
dependent on irrigation from streams that come down 
from Afghanistan and Persia. A large area of 
mounds, representing what is left of the ancient city 
of Merv, is passed through before reaching the mod- 
ern city. Here, as often all along on the journey from 
Semipalatinsk, we are reminded, by the deserted ruins, 
of the former fertility of this irrigated belt, along 
which Tamerlane came with his conquering hosts to 
establish his empire in Central Asia. It was with a 
deep thrill of interest that on reaching Samarkand we 
were reminded that it occupied the site of ancient Alar- 
acanda, w T hich Alexander the Great made his head- 
quarters for two years, taking meanwhile for a wife 
the queen of the countr}-. The railroad trains bring- 
ing into the interior vast quantities of petroleum re- 
mind us of how Alexander barely escaped the role of 
being the Rockefeller of his times; for it is related 
that on one of his expeditions, when he had penetrated 
the bordering desert region for a short distance, to 
supply his army w T ith w T ater he ordered a well to be 
dug, w T hich, instead of furnishing a salubrious bever- 
age, yielded a bad-smelling compound of water and 



Across Asia 305 

petroleum, which the soothsayers declared was a had 
omen; whereupon he deserted the region and took a 
short cut into India. 

Hut Merv was for a century or two the seat of a 
Greco-Bactrian kingdom, and was reputed to have had 
at one time a population of one million. It is interest- 
ing to note, also, that we are here near the original 
center of Aryan civilization, dating back as far as that 
of Egypt and Babylonia. Balkh, where Zoroaster, 
the founder of the Parsee religion, is reputed to have 
been buried, is situated one or two hundred miles 
farther east on this same irrigated belt. Its ruins oc- 
cupy a space twenty miles in circuit. One hundred 
miles farther west we reach Askabad, the military 
center of the region, just at the base df the Kopet 
Dagh Mountains. It was near this city that, in 1903 
and 1904, Professor Raphael Pumpelly excavated 
some prehistoric mounds, under commission from the 
Carnegie Institute at Washington. Here he found 
evidence, as he believed, of the presence of man eight 
thousand years before Christ, and much evidence con- 
firming the generally accepted opinion that the most of 
the domesticated animals and cultivated grains now 
found in Europe were developed in this region. 

At Balla Ishem, about two hundred miles farther 
west, we stopped off a day to study a section of the 
old outlet of the stream which once flowed from the 



306 Story of My Life 

Aral Sea to the Caspian. This we found to be about 
as wide as the trough of the Niagara below Buffalo, 
with perpendicular banks, twenty-five or thirty feet in 
height, still so intact as to show that it was not many 
thousand years ago that the channel was abandoned. 
The story which this channel tells is very interesting 
and important in its bearing on the date of the Glacial 
epoch. During and shortly after the climax of the 
Glacial epoch the supply of water from the melting 
glaciers on the vast mountain system of Central Asia, 
filled to overflowing the Oxus, the Jaxartes, the Chu, 
the 111, and other smaller streams, and the interior seas 
into which they empty, causing the surplus water to 
empty into the Caspian Sea. The channel of this de- 
serted stream is called the Uzboi. So distinct is it all 
the way from the Aral to the Caspian Sea, that Rus- 
sian engineers proposed to build a canal along its 
course so that ships could pass from one to the other, 
and surveyed it for this purpose. The only obstacle 
to the completion of the plan is that there is not suf- 
ficient water coming into the Aral Sea at the present 
time to furnish an adequate supply for the canal. Un- 
der the fierce summer heat of that desert region, the 
water is lifted by evaporation into the heavens, as fast 
as the rivers bring it down. Elsewhere 1 I have told 
the story of the probable effect of the diminishing of 
the glaciers in the mountains bordering Turkestan, in 



Across Asia 307 

contracting the oases occupied by man in the Glacial 
epoch and forcing his emigration into Europe, into 
vast areas from which glacial ice had at the same time 
been retreating. 

After crossing the Caspian Sea from Krasnovodsk to 
Baku, the great oil center of Russia, and spending a 
few days in studying the elevated shore lines of the 
region, to which reference will be made later, we 
passed up the valley of the Kur to Tiflis and thence 
on to Batum on the Black Sea and to Trebizond, 
where Rev. M. P. Parmelee, the American mission- 
ary, had reported to me the existence of an elevated 
shore line, which he thought important enough to be 
further investigated. And here I found it as he had 
reported. At an elevation 650 feet above the Black 
Sea, on the face of the basaltic cliff which rises 250 
feet higher, there is a gravel terrace furnishing in 
some places excellent building sites. The material in 
the terrace is such as would have been washed in by 
the waves when they were at that level, showing un- 
questionably that it is an old shore line of the sea 
when the land was depressed to that amount, which 
by subsequent elevation had been brought to its pres- 
ent position. The unstable position occupied by this 
beach deposit, and the small amount which it has suf- 



308 Story of My Life 

fered from erosion, indicates that it is of a compar- 
atively recent geological age. 

On publishing an account of this, information was 
soon furnished me of similar terraces near Samsun, on 
the south shore of the Black Sea, near its western end, 
and in the Crimea on the northern shore. Professor 
William M. Davis, of Harvard University, and Ells- 
worth Huntington, now of Yale University, subse- 
quently visited Trebizond, at my suggestion, and by 
their observations fully confirmed the existence of tlr's 
recently abandoned, high shore line. Furthermore, at 
Baku on the Caspian Sea, they found evidence of sim- 
ilar shore lines at nearly the same elevation. These, 
too, my son and I had observed, but we were not suf- 
ficiently assured of the facts to publish them. The ter- 
race at Trebizond has since been the subject of much 
interest to the missionaries there, and Miss Millie 
Cole tells me that they have found extensions of the 
deposits at several other places along the shore. The 
significance of all this is of the greatest interest and 
importance. As I looked from this beach to the north 
and reflected that between me and the Arctic Ocean 
there was no land more than five hundred feet above 
the sea level, and that all northwestern Siberia and 
much of Central Asia was below that level, I was 
overwhelmed with the picture the imagination drew 
of the effects which were produced by the subsidence 



Across Asia 309 

of land indicated by these abandoned shore lines; and 
the story of the Noachian flood became easily credible. 

From Trebizond we went back again to Tiflis, and 
thence over the Caucasus Mountains by the Dariel 
pass — the only practicable road between Asia and Eu- 
rope for the eight hundred miles between the Black 
Sea and the Caspian. A well-built military road, ris- 
ing to a height of about 9,000 feet, makes the passage 
easy and delightful, opening as it does scenery amid 
mountain peaks 2,000 feet higher than Mount Blanc, 
and passing on the north side, through a deep moun- 
tain gorge, the classic gate of Dariel, which is so nar- 
row at one point that it was once actually obstructed 
by gates like those which guard the entrance to a 
walled city. In following this pass w r e had interesting 
evidence of the former extension of glacial ice in a 
terminal moraine crossed far down on the south side 
of the mountain range. 

From Vladikavkas on the northern terminus of the 
road through the Dariel Pass, we started by rail for 
Moscow, a distance of 1.2 13 miles. The charge for a 
first-class ticket was only $15.25, which provided sleep- 
ing accommodations in the public saloon of the car; 
but for one dollar extra, half a private apartment with 
excellent sleeping accommodations could be secured. 
For several hours the loftiest peaks of the Caucasus 



310 Story of My Life 

Mountains to the southwest were full in view, but 
soon we were too far out on the boundless plains of 
Russia to have much diversified scenery. After going 
four hundred miles we came to Rostov on the Don, 
a well-built city scarcely a hundred years old, with a 
population of 120,000, of which more anon. For two 
hundred miles further we rode through the prairie 
country occupied by the Cossacks of the Don, seeing 
the many indications of their military organization, 
and being impressed with the many economies result- 
ing from the collection of the agricultural population 
in villages and the herding of animals, w T hich dispenses 
with the cost of building fences. For hours w T e rode 
through the black-earth region of southeastern Russia 
without seeing a fence or a weed. Wheat is the staple 
product for export and all the railroad stations were 
provided with immense sheds where the grain was 
stored in sacks ready for shipment. 

On nearing Moscow we left the treeless prairie re- 
gion, and found ourselves w T hizzing through frequent 
stretches of pine and oak forest, and across ill-drained 
areas, which indicated that we were well within the 
glaciated region. The soil is less fertile, and one won- 
ders how it came to pass that Moscow should become 
the capital of this great empire. But like the suprem- 
acv of New England, that of northern Russia is that 
of mind over matter. A certain amount of difficulty 



Across Asia 311 

to be overcome so stimulates the heroic elements in 
man, that it serves to facilitate rather than hinder his 
triumphs. 

Of the other great cities of Russia besides Rostov, 
we visited only four, — Moscow, Petrograd, Kiev, and 
Odessa. Of these Moscow and Kiev are the most 
interesting. Petrograd and Odessa are comparatively 
new cities, having had a recent growth as rapid as that 
of Chicago. Moscow and Kiev, too, have grown rap- 
idly; but they still have about them the flavor of 
ancient capitals. It was at Kiev that Vladimer in the 
tenth century was converted to Christianity, and made 
his capital the Jerusalem of Russia. It is at the Krem- 
lin in Moscow that the Czars still go to be crowned. 
So much of historic interest is centered there that there 
is much occasion for the Russians saying, " Above 
Russia is Moscow, above Moscow the Kremlin, above 
the Kremlin only heaven. " All these places are now 
centers of great scientific and intellectual, as w T ell as 
of commercial and manufacturing, activities. It was 
this which principally drew us to them, and our ex- 
pectations were more than met in the wealth of their 
scientific museums and publications, and in the inter- 
est which the professors and the heads of the Depart- 
ment of State took in our investigations. 

One of the most touching incidents illustrating the 



312 Story of My Life 

kindheartedness of the Russian people was witnessed 
I as we approached Moscow. The November frosts 
had already covered the small ponds in the vicinity 
with a coating of ice sufficient to invite the children to 
play upon it. Hundreds of children of all classes 
swarmed out to enjoy the privilege of sliding upon 
the glare surfaces. But a large part of the children 
were barefooted and could not slide. The children 
who had shoes, however, after sliding a while, were 
seen to lend their shoes to their barefooted companions 
that they might slide. ■ Who shall say that the spirit of 
Christianity has not pervaded the masses of the peo- 
pie in Russia? 

In Petrograd we remained from the 15th to the 
22d of November. During all this time the wonder 
continued to grow upon us that so large and magnifi- 
cent a city should flourish in the latitude- of southern 
Greenland, where in the middle of November the sun 
does not rise till nearly nine o'clock, and sets at half- 
past three. But w T ith a population of more than 1,500,- 
000, and with streets brilliantly lighted, and endless 
art galleries open to the public free of expense, and 
with houses doubly protected against the cold, and 
well-warmed, life in the city is really most attractive 
to all classes. Here we were hospitably entertained 
by members of the Geological Survey, prominent of 
whom w T ere Nikitin, Tchernyschev, and Frederick 



Across Asia 313 

Schmidt, all of whom expressed great interest m our 
glacial investigations in Siberia and Turkestan, as 
they were confirmatory of their own observations. 
Dr. Tchernyschev, especially, coincided with our in- 
ferences as to the extent to which water had been in- 
strumental in distribution of the loess in Central Asia, 
and concerning the unity of the Glacial epoch. Hil- 
koff, head of the department of transportation, was 
especially interested to get our report upon the condi- 
tion of the trans-Siberian railroad, and of the post- 
road through Turkestan, which he had recently built. 
General Rikatcheff, the head of the Weather Bureau, 
took great interest in consulting w 7 ith my son, who for 
some time had been connected with the United States 
Weather Bureau, and gave us the volume of elaborate 
maps which the Russian government had recently 
published, having special value from the fact that the 
Russian government collects its facts from a larger 
continuous land area than any other country, and its 
records in many places in Siberia go back two hun- 
dred years. 

Our route from Petrograd to Odessa was by way of 
Vilna and Kiev, crossing rear Vilna the route of Na- 
poleon's disastrous retreat from Moscow. The Bere- 
sina River, w T here his army suffered most, is a com- 
paratively small stream running through a swampy 



314 Story of My Life 

region, produced by the imperfect drainage of a re- 
cently glaciated area. It is in such a glaciated region, 
with its innumerable swamps and lakes, that the Rus- 
sians and Germans have been contending for suprem- 
acy in 1914 and 191 5. All the way to Kiev we felt 
at home amid glacial moraines and gravel plains such 
as one meets continually in central and southwestern 
Ohio. On reaching Odessa we found ourselves where 
the sun rose an hour earlier than in Petrograd and 
set an hour later. Another four hundred miles to the 
south would bring us to the latitude of New York 
City, and to the genial winter climate of Constan- 
tinople. 

We had not planned to visit Kiev, which was some 
distance off from the main line of Odessa, but the 
geologists of Petrograd told us that, as Professor 
Armaschevsky had recently discovered remains of man 
beneath the glacial deposits near that city, it was im- 
portant for us to see him. On reaching the city, 
there occurred the incident, already related, in which 
Professor Armaschevsky indicated his recognition, 
when I handed him my card, by taking down from 
the shelf behind him a copy of the " Ice Age in North 
America " and laying it before me. This was all the 
introduction I needed, and as the Professor did not 
speak English, an interpreter was secured and we were 
shown the most characteristic mysteries of the region. 



Across Asia 315 

Kiev is situated on a bluff rising some three hundred 
feet above the Dnieper River. The upper fifty feet 
of this bluff is a glacial deposit, in which I had no 
difficulty in finding granitic pebbles which had been 
transported seven hundred miles from Scandinavia. 
It was at the base of this glacial deposit, that a pre- 
historic village site containing many relics of man had 
been found a short time before, thus presenting in 
Russia substantially the same archaeological problems 
with which I had become familiar in various glacial 
deposits in America. 

I need not pause to narrate the incidents connected 
with our visit to Constantinople, and of the voyage 
through the isles of Greece and the eastern Mediter- 
ranean to Beirut, since they are so similar to those 
experienced by ordinary travelers. But from Beirut 
through to the southern end of the Dead Sea in Pales- 
tine, many things came under our observation that are 
of special importance and interest. And here again I 
must note a providential circumstance, not of our own 
devising, upon w^hich much depended. It was now 
the middle of December and too late for ordinary 
tourists to make the journey through Palestine on 
horseback. But fortunately one of the first-class pas- 
sengers on the steamer, who landed at Beirut (we 
had taken second-class passage), was Rossiter Scott 



310 Story of My Life 

of Baltimore, Maryland, who was traveling without 
any distinct plan; but on consulting w ith us he ex- 
pressed a desire, late as the season was, to make the 
overland trip to Jersusalem. While we three were 
talking over the plan at the counter of Cook's Bureau, 
Air. Moses Cottsworth, an eminent English actuary, 
happened to come in and overhear our conversation, 
and at once intimated that he would be glad to join 
such a party. This made the requisite number, so 
that we at once engaged a guide and set out for Da- 
mascus, where a caravan was gathered to conduct, us 
to Jerusalem. 

Mr. Cottsworth w T as greatly interested in reform- 
ing the calendar so that the year should always begin 
upon the same day of the week. This he would ac- 
complish by having thirteen months of four weeks 
each, and an intercalary day at the end of each year. 
In the interest of this reform (which certainly would 
be of great advantage to business and manufacturing 
concerns who have to make monthly payment rolls for 
their employees, and monthly calculations concerning 
conditions of their business), he needed to gather facts 
concerning the early structures in "Egypt and Palest'ne 
which indicated the methods of determining the exact 
days in which the vernal and autumnal equinoxes oc- 
curred. He had already found that the pyramid of 
Cheops near Cairo was built with such a slant that at 



Across Asia 317 

the equinoxes it swallowed its own shadow, and so 
furnished the Egyptian priests with a sundial, by 

which they could indicate the exact time at which 
seed should be sown every spring in the Nile Valley. 
When we reached Egypt, we saw with him remnants 
of the old graduated scale north of the pyramid, on 
which the shadow would indicate the exact elevation 
of the sun above the horizon. Nothing could exceed 
the expression of delight when, at Shiloh, amid the 
hills of Ephraim, Mr. Cottsworth discovered that the 
slope of the battered wall, at the base of the building 
erected here by the Children of Israel, had exactly the 
slant of the Egyptian pyramids, showing that they had 
brought with them the architectural ideas of the land 
. from which they came. With these congenial com- 
panions we set out for our survey of Palestine. 

THE GREAT JORDAN " FAULT " 

From Beirut to Damascus a narrow-gauge railroad 
carries one over the Lebanon Mountains and across 
the valley intervening between them and the Anti- 
Lebanon range. This valley, known as Coele-Syria, 
is about ten miles wide, and, though 3,000 feet above 
the sea, is bordered by mountains rising from 3,000 
to 7,000 feet higher. Baalbek occupies its central por- 
tion, being on the divide between the Orontes River, 
which flows to the north, and the Litany, which runs 



318 Story of My Life 

to the south as far as the base of Mt. Hermon. On 
first looking down upon it one might suppose it to be a 
long, narrow lake basin w r hich had been filled with 
sediment; but closer attention shows that it is a syn- 
clinal depression, open at both ends, which has been 
leveled up by subaerial erosion and covered with the 
fertile wash from the limestone slopes on either side. 
Its productiveness is phenomenal, and it is still cap- 
able, as in all past time, of supporting a dense popula- 
tion. 

The Litany River, after running about eighty miles 
to the south and reaching a level of 2,000 feet above 
the sea, suddenly turns to the west and crosses the 
Lebanon range, making the descent to the Mediter- 
ranean in about twenty-five miles. In this part of its 
course it has probably taken advantage of a " cross 
fault," of which there are several examples farther 
south, which has opened a channel to the sea. But, in 
addition to this cause of the sudden deflection across 
the Lebanon range, another exists in the enormous 
amount of volcanic material which fills the valley w r est 
of Mt. Hermon. We had an excellent opportunity 
to see this after coming into the head of the Jordan 
Valley at Banias. The basaltic masses of rock here 
extend entirely across the valley, and rise in successive 
steps as far as the eye can reach towards the north. In 
every respect they are in striking contrast to the fruit- 



J rmss Asia 319 

ful limestone strata of the mountain slopes on either 
side. 

At Damascus we took horses on December 17 for 
Jerusalem. As we had no tents, we depended on 
finding shelter in the villages wherever we should 
happen to be. Our first stopping-place was Hineh, a 
Syrian village on the southeastern flank of Hermon, 
twenty-eight miles from Damascus, and nearly 5,000 
feet above the sea. Our shelter was the house of the 
Russian priest, who was both pastor of the church 
and teacher of his native language in the parish school. 
The house was on the side of a hill, and furnished 
shelter for animals in the lower story. We ascended 
to the family residence by ten or twelve stone steps, 
and found there a platform in front of the door, on 
which all could sun themselves in pleasant weather. 
This, like the roofs of the houses upon which we could 
look on the lower portion of the hill, was covered with 
dirt, w r ell compacted through use of a stone roller. 
There were no glass windows in the house. The 
only way of admitting light w r as by opening the doors 
and the close wooden shutters on one side. A j^oung 
Syrian woman who had been educated at the Scotch 
Mission in Damascus, and was here as a teacher in the 
school, was occupying the only spare room in the 
house. This she vacated for us. But there was no 
means of warming it, and as a storm came on which 



320 Story of -My Life 

shut us in for all the next day, we had ample oppor- 
tunity to experience some of the discomforts in the 
life of the region. The priest and his family of six 
or seven were all living in the adjoining room, where 
they slept and ate and cooked and warmed themselves 
by an open fire with no chimney to afford escape for 
the smoke and poisonous gases. Their only fuel was 
a scanty supply of corn cobs. During the evening and 
the following day nearly the whole village came in to 
see us and to shelter themselves from the driving sleet 
and snow. Their cheerfulness under these conditions 
was a constant surprise to us. 

Among the visitors was a blind girl, about ten years 
old, whose father was dead, and who had no shoes or 
stockings. My compassion moved me quietly to give 
ten francs to the young Syrian woman who was her 
teacher, with which she promised to send to Damascus 
on the following day and buy shoes and stockings for 
the unfortunate girl. But I found later that it would 
have taken a fortune to clothe all the bare feet of the 
village. When the wind had abated, on the third 
day, but while snow was still falling, we ventured 
to cross the remaining spur of Hermon. Though the 
snow was a foot deep, it was no uncommon thing to 
see a buxom lass stalking barefooted through the 
streets of a village, with a heavy load on her head. 
One of our muleteers had nothing on his feet but slip- 



. I cross Asia 321 

pers, one of which was so loose that it kept coming 
off. After many vain attempts to keep it on, he at 
length deliberately took it off and tucked it under 
a strap which held on his mule's load, and cheerfully 
waded through the snow barefooted the rest of the 
day. I noticed, however, that on the next day he was 
very quick to appropriate a pair of well-worn socks 
which I cast aside before starting in the morning. It 
is difficult to estimate the extent to which human be- 
ings can inure themselves to the inevitable hardships 
of life. 

On descending to the Jordan Valley above Lake 
Huleh we reached sea level, leaving the snow line 
3,000 or 4,000 feet above us, and rode along the edge 
of the low plain which extends about fifteen miles to 
the north of the lake. Near the lake this becomes so 
marshy that it cannot be crossed 5 but the most of it is 
cultivated by the Bedouins, who were already out in 
great numbers putting in seed, with their oxen and 
plows. On passing one of their numerous villages of 
black tents, we were accosted in good English by a 
native, who said he had been in America, and asked 
us to stop and take coffee with him. Twice before 
we had been thus accosted by Syrians who had been 
in the United States. At the annual meeting of the 
Presbyterian Mission in Beirut, which we chanced 



322 Story of My Life 

to attend, much was said about the tendency of their 
converts to emigrate to America. In one group of 
churches containing a membership of 400 or 500, 130 
had gone to America. The woman in the Jewish 
colony at whose house we stayed one night, later on, 
told us that her husband was in America, and she 
should follow him as soon as possible. The difficulty 
of keeping the leaven in the country which is so neces- 
sary for its regeneration, is one of the most discourag- 
ing factors in the problem of Turkish civilization. 

Lake Galilee is more than 600 feet below the level 
of the sea. One of the most marked of the " cross 
faults " of the region extends westward from the Jor- 
dan Valley a little south of the lake. This is known 
as the Plain of Esdraelon, ?nd falls down in its high- 
est part to about 400 feet above s~a level. The north 
side of this " fault " appears as a series of precipitous 
cliffs running east and west and a little south of 
Nazareth. Mt. Tabor is an outlying block projecting 
part way into the plain. 

The feature in the Jordan Valley to which we gave 
special attention is the terrace of fine sediment, about 
650 feet above the level of the Dead Sea, which com- 
pletely surrounds it, and stretches far out beyond each 
end. This, however, attains its full height only near 
the margin of the valley. Towards the middle of the 
valley it descends, either by a gradual slope, or by a 



.I cross Asia 3 13 

succession of more or less well-marked terraces, of 
which we counted twelve near the south end. Where 
the shores are precipitous ar.d no streams are entering 
from the sides, the material consists of coarse debris, 
somewhat waterworn, which has fallen from the cliffs. 
But, whenever a watercourse comes in from the sur- 
rounding highlands, there is a delta-like extension cor- 
responding in extent to the size of the stream w r hich 
has contributed the material. These are, however, not 
characteristic of the north end of the shores, for the 
reason that the sea is here so deep as to have swal- 
lowed up all that the shores have heretofore brought 
within its reach. The delta-like extensions of the ter- 
race are very pronounced about the southeast, the Lisan 
being most prominent of them all. It is clear enough 
that in a recent geological age, the water level in the 
valley stood for some time about 700 feet higher than 
now, and has gradually receded to its present level. 

The cause of this fluctuation in the level of the 
Dead Sea opens an interesting field of speculation. 
By most recent writers it has been connected with the 
Glacial epoch, as in that of the filling up of the Salt 
Lake basin in Utah. As long ago as 1862 Sir Joseph 
Hooker announced that the cedars of Lebanon were 
growing on a terminal moraine. But I could detect 
no evidence of glacial action anywhere in the Lebanon 
region which we visited. There was certainly no gen- 



324 Story of My Life 

eral glaciation of the region. Still, as it is probable 
that the Glacial epoch was characterized by increased 
precipitation and diminished evaporation over a border- 
ing area of considerable extent, it affords an easy ex- 
planation of the rise of the water in the Jordan Valley. 
I observed, also, near the south end of the Dead Sea, 
evidence that the silting up took place to a large ex- 
tent during a gradual rise in the water. The coarse 
material near the bottom was frequently so far out 
from the old shore, and so covered with thick strata 
of fine sediment, as to render no other supposition than 
this possible. The Glacial epoch affords the best ex- 
planation of this. 

At Jerusalem we were met by my Old Andover 
friend, Selah Merrill, then United States consul. His 
experience in the survey of the country east of the Jor- 
dan, and his long residence in Jerusalem, were of great 
service in our subsequent excursions in Palestine. After 
visiting Jericho and the region around we planned, 
under his direction, a trip to the unfrequented south 
end of the Dead Sea. In this we were joined by Airs. 
Theodore Bent, whose extensive travels with her hus- 
band in Ethiopia, southern Arabia, and Persia, had 
not only rendered her famous but fitted her in a 
peculiar manner to be a congenial and helpful travel- 
ing companion. She had her own tent and equipment 



J cross Asia 325 

and her own dragoman, and her presence added greatly 
to the interest of the trip. 

After stopping a day at Hebron, we passed along 
the heights till we descended to the shore of the Dead 
Sea at the north end of Jebel Usdum, through the 
Wadi Zuweirah. Here we found indications that, 
during the rainy season, tremendous floods of w r ater 
rushed down from the heights of southern Palestine, 
through all the wadies. Such had been the force of 
the temporary torrents here, that, over a delta pushed 
out by the stream and covering an area of two or 
three square miles, frequent bowlders a foot or more 
in diameter had been propelled a long distance over a 
level surface. At the time of our visit, the height of 
the water in the Dead Sea w^as such that it everywhere 
washed the foot of Salt Mountain (Jebel Usdum), 
making it impossible for us to walk along the shore. 
A few years before this, however, Professor Hull and 
Major Kitchener, when conducting their survey at 
the same time of year, camped on the shore here on 
a sandy beach fifteen or twenty feet above sea level ; 
while Professor Schmidt of Cornell University did the 
same a few years later. These variations of level, 
however, are due to local and temporal causes, rather 
than to such secular variations as produced the great 
changes connected with the Glacial epoch. 

The extent of this delta, and that of many others 



326 Story of My Life 

which we had observed in our journey along the west 
shore and which we had seen at the north end, opened 
up a chapter in -the history of the Dead Sea that never 
before had been adequately considered. Instigated by 
these discoveries, on returning home I prepared a paper, 
for the Society of Biblical Literature and Exegesis, in 
which I presented abundant evidence to show that, 
owning to this encroachment upon the original area of 
the Dead Sea, the level of the water had risen greatly 
since the time of Joshua. For, supposing that the sup- 
ply of water coming into the sea had been constant 
for that period, the evaporating surface must have been 
kept constant in order to secure the equilibrium. As 
the larger surface in the northern end of the sea was 
encroached upon by these deltas, the w^ater was com- 
pelled to rise and overflow the southern portion, which 
is very shallow r (scarcely more than twenty feet deep 
anywhere), thereby maintaining the required evaporat- 
ing surface. This supposition not only has the support 
of the evidence of the necessary causes at work, but 
also is confirmed by the statements given in the book 
of Joshua (xv. 2, 5, 6; xviii. 19) of the boundaries 
at the northern and southern ends. It also conforms 
to the tradition that the site of Sodom and Gomorrah 
is under the water at the south end of the sea. These 
views have been embodied, also, in an article on the 
Dead Sea in the International Standard Bible Encvclo- 



Across Asia 327 

paedia, and accepted by such high authorities as Dr. 
Dalman and Clermont-Ganneau, who had previously 
maintained that in Joshua's time the water was two 
hundred feet higher than now, while on my theory it 
was then forty or fifty feet lower, with a much larger 
basin in the northern part. 

Near the mouth of Wadi Zuweirah, we observed a 
nearly complete section of the 600-foot terrace of fine 
material, displaying the laminae deposited by succes- 
sive floods during the high level maintained by the 
water throughout the Glacial epoch. From these it 
was clear that this flooded condition continued for sev- 
eral thousand years. On the road along the west 
shore* to Ain Jiddy (En-gedi) we observed (as al- 
ready indicated) ten or twelve abandoned shore lines, 
consisting of coarse material where the shore was too 
steep, and the waves had been too strong to let fine 
sediment settle. 

From all the evidence at command it appears that, 
at the climax of the Glacial epoch, the water in this 
valley rose to an elevation of 1,400 feet above the 
present level of the Dead Sea, gradually declining 
thereafter to the 600-foot level, where it remained for 
a long period, at the close of which it again gradually 
declined to its present level, uncovering the vast 
sedimentary deposits which meanwhile had accumu- 
lated over the valley of the Jordan, north of Jericho. 



328 Story of My Life 

But probably this cycle in the history of the valley had 
already been accomplished long before the appearance 
in it of the Israelites on their return from the land of 
Egypt. 

Our ride from Ain Jiddy to Bethlehem was notable 
in more respects than one. The steep climb (of 4,000 
feet) up the ascent from the sea to the summit of the 
plateau was abrupt enough to make one's head dizzy. 
But as the zigzag path brought us to higher and 
higher levels, the backward view towards the moun- 
tains of Moab, and towards both the north and the 
south end of the Dead Sea, was as enchanting as it 
was impressive. Across the sea, up the valley o-f the 
Arnon, we could see the heights above Aroer and 
Dibon, and back of El Lisan, the heights about Rab- 
bah and Moab, and those about Kir of Moab, while 
the extensive deltas coming into the Dead Sea along 
the whole shore south of us fully confirmed our infer- 
ences concerning their effect in encroaching upon its 
original evaporating area. 

After passing through the wilderness of Jeruel and 
past Tekoah, as we w T ere approach'ng Bethlehem, a 
little before sundown, the men of our party wished to 
hurry on to get another sight of the scenes amidst 
which Christ was born. As Mrs. Bent was already 
familiar with those scenes, she preferred to come along 



J cross Asia 329 

more slowly with the caravan, and told us to go on 
without any concern for her safety. But soon after 
arriving at Bethlehem, the sheik who accompanied our 
party overtook us, and told us that Mrs. Bent had 
fallen from her horse and suffered severe injury; 
whereupon we all started back over the rocky path- 
way, to render the assistance that seemed to be needed. 
On reaching a point where two paths to Bethlehem 
separated, we were told by a native that he thought 
our party had proceeded along the other path from 
that we had taken, and that it would be found to have 
already reached its destination before us. We there- 
fore returned to Bethlehem. But, soon after, the 
dragoman came in great haste, saying that Airs. Bent 
had indeed fallen from her horse and broken a limb, 
and that he had left her unprotected in an open field 
to await assistance. Again, therefore, but accom- 
panied by six strong natives with a large woolen 
blanket, on which to convey her, we proceeded to the 
place where the accident occurred. Here we found 
her where she had been lying for about two hours un- 
der the clear starlight. But, instead of complaining, 
she averred that it was providential that she had been 
allow-ed to rest so long before undertaking the painful 
journey made necessary by the accident; and that all 
the while she had been occupied with the thought that 
she was gazing upon the same constellations in the 



330 Story of My Life 

heavens from which the angel of the Lord had ap- 
peared to the shepherds to announce the Saviour's 
birth. 

The task of giving her relief was not altogether a 
simple one. The surrounding rocky pastures did not 
yield any vegetable growth from which a splint could 
be made to stiffen the broken leg. An inspiration, 
however, came to my son, who suggested that we 
could take her parasol for one side and the sound 
limb for the other, and with the girdle of one of the 
men bind them together so that the journey could be 
effected safely. No sooner said than done. The suf- 
ferer was laid upon the blanket and slowly carried to 
Bethlehem by the strong arms of our native escort. 
From here she was conveyed by carriage to Jerusalem 
where w T e arrived between one and two o'clock in the 
morning, taking her to the English hospital, of which 
she had been a liberal patron, and where she was ac- 
quainted with all the staff; but, alas! this hospital 
was established exclusively for Jews, and as she was 
not one they refused to admit her, advising her to go 
down to the hospital conducted by* German sisters. 
This, however, she flatly refused to do, declaring that 
rather than do that she would camp on the steps of 
the English hospital. At this two of the lady mem- 
bers of the staff, who were her special friends, vacated 
their room and she was provided for. 



J cross Asia 331 

Respecting the sequel we would simply say that her 
limb was successfully set, and with cheerful confidence 
she assured us that she would reach London before 
we did and that we must be sure to call upon her 
there. She did indeed reach London before we left 
the city, but it was on the last day of our stay, and, 
as our tickets had been purchased for the noon train 
going to Plymouth, w r e were unable to accept her in- 
vitation to dine that evening. Some years afterwards, 
however, wdien visiting the city with Mrs. Wright, 
we found her at home, and had great enjo}mient in 
repeatedly visiting her and studying the rare collec- 
tions with which she had filled her house upon return- 
ing from the various expeditions in which she had 
accompanied her artistic husband. 

Upon leaving Jerusalem w r e visited Egypt, ascend- 
ing the Nile as far as Assouan ; but, as Egypt is fa- 
miliar ground, we will refer simply to the fact that in 
the vicinity of Thebes we were permitted to study the 
abandoned delta terrace of one of the streams coming 
into the Nile at that point, in w T hich Professor H. W. 
Haynes many years before had found palaeolithic im- 
plements (with some of which he had enriched my 
collection), indicating an occupation of the valley by 
prehistoric man long anterior to the construction of 
the oldest monuments. 



332 Story of My Life 

From Egypt we sailed to Athens and spent a week 
in visiting the centers of greatest archaeological inter- 
est in Greece, driving down from Corinth to visit the 
ruins of Mycenae and Tyrens, so fully explored and 
described by Schliemann. 

Crossing to Italy, a w T eek was spent in the vicinity 
of Naples, whence we made an excursion to Palermo 
to visit the cavern of San Ciro, from which twenty 
tons of fresh bones, representing hippopotamus, deer, 
ox, and elephant, and individuals of all ages from the 
fetus to the full-grown animal, were found and ex- 
cavated in 1830, and exported for commercial pur- 
poses. The bones were so fresh that they were cut 
into ornaments and polished, and w T hen burnt gave 
out ammoniacal vapor. At the time of the discovery, 
all the facts were carefully collected and described by 
Abbate D. Scina, and by Dr. Turnbull Christie in 
1 83 1. The only explanation of this remarkable col- 
lection of bones is, that, in a comparatively recent sub- 
sidence of land which had previously been elevated 
above its present level, this incongruous mixture of 
animals had been driven pellmell by the rising water 
to take refuge in the cave, which is now two hundred 
feet above sea level. It is an impressive picture that 
the imagination brings up, of this rising tide of water 
entering the beautiful amphitheater in which Palermo 
is situated, and driving before it the terrified horde of 



Across Asia 333 

animals that could find no other escape. Palermo it- 
self, with its interesting museum, is worthy of more 
attention than it gets from the ordinary tourist. 

Pausing at Rome, Florence, and Genoa, we en- 
tered France through Turin by way of the Mount 
Cenis tunnel, and, after a short stop in Paris, reached 
London, where I met again the large circle of geolo- 
gists and archaeologists who had entertained me on 
my first visit to England, and read a paper before the 
London Geological Society (later published in their 
Proceedings), summarizing the results of our observa- 
tions in crossing Asia. We also visited Mr. Cotts- 
worth in his home at York, where we were permitted 
to study the various objects of archaeological interest 
in that city and vicinity. Returning to London, we 
engaged passage on a steamer from Southampton, just 
in time, as before remarked, to miss meeting Mrs. 
Bent, our unfortunate traveling companion in Pales- 
tine. 

HOME AGAIN 

After returning from our fourteen months' trip 
around the world, my spare time was occupied for two 
or three years in preparing and publishing the results 
of my observations. The most important publication 
was " Asiatic Russia," in two volumes, issued by Mc- 
Clure, Phillips & Co., in 1902. This work was 



334- Story of My Life 

abundantly supplied with illustrations from the photo- 
graphs which my son had taken, and with several 
new maps, and presented the subject from every point 
of view, — from that of physical geography, history, 
sociology, economic and political conditions, geology, 
climate, flora and fauna. It has received highest praise 
from both English and Russian sources. In spite of 
the high price of $7.50, the edition has been entirely 
exhausted. So highly was it appreciated in Russia, 
that, just before the outset of the present war, ar- 
rangements were in progress for the translation into 
Russian of a new edition, incorporating the latest sta- 
tistics; but, like so many other things, this plan was 
cut short by the absorbing interest of Russia in her 
preparations for the great European war. Meanwhile 
I contributed to the Geological Society of America a 
paper of considerable length, on the " Origin and Dis- 
tribution of Loess in Northern and Central Asia," 
and an article to McClures Magazine on " Geology 
and the Deluge," giving a full statement of the facts 
which indicated a recent subsidence of the land in 
China, Central Asia, and northeastern Europe. 

Soon after, much interest was excited by some re- 
markable discoveries in the valley of the Missouri 
River. One of these was that of a cluster of Canadian 
bowlders at Tuscumbia, Missouri, thirty miles south 



Across Asia 335 

of the glacial border, which had been established as 
following the line of the Missouri River up to a con- 
siderable distance west of Tuscumbia. Moreover, 
Tuscumbia was sixty miles above the junction of the 
Osage River with the Missouri. 

Here was indeed a problem. Had geologists made 
a mistake in limiting the movement of glacial ice, at 
this point, to the northern bank of the Missouri River? 
To attempt a solution, I made two separate excursions 
into the region for the purpose of testing theories 
which might account for the abnormal facts. First, I 
surveyed again the region south of the Missouri River, 
and found that there had been no mistake in our 
former inferences concerning the extent of the glacial 
ice to the south. Glacial ice had not crossed the Mis- 
souri River east of Jefferson City, so these bowlders 
could not have been brought there by direct glacial 
action. 

A second possible theory was that the ice had 
crossed the Kansas River and penetrated the head- 
waters of the Osage, whence floating icebergs, broken 
off by the glacial flood, had brought the bowlders 
down to Tuscumbia. Hence I went up into Kansas 
and surveyed the region between these rivers, and 
found that there had been no mistake of the geologists 
in limiting the* glacial boundary there to the Kansas 
River. So that hypothesis was eliminated. 



33& Story of My Life 

A third supposition was, that there were outcrops 
of rocks in Missouri from which these bowlders might 
have been derived. Consequently, in company with 
Professor E. M. Shepard of Drury College, who was 
then state geologist, I went over the Archaean area, 
where such an outcrop might properly be found, and 
was assured that there were no such rocks in Mis- 
souri. 

The only remaining theory was one of extreme 
interest, and of the most startling character. This is 
that in the closing stages of the Glacial epoch, when 
the ice was rapidly disappearing, the upper Missouri 
River was supplied with about twenty-five times the 
amount of water which now annually comes into it, 
and all this during the summer months. Calculating 
the width of the trough of the river below the mouth 
of the Osage, it was easy to see that this would pro- 
duce annual floods, at that point, 200 feet in height; 
while the Osage River, being entirely outside the gla- 
ciated region, would have no abnormal addition to its 
water supply to produce floods perceptibly larger than 
those which occur annually. As a result the 200-foot 
flood in the Missouri would set a current up the 
Osage River sufficient to bear small icebergs, contain- 
ing northern bowlders, to Tuscumbia, where they 
would be left on the subsidence of the water. The 
first announcement of this theory was made in an 



A cross Asia 337 

article published in the New York Nation. It was 
interesting, a few years later, when I called on Mr. 
Salomon Reinach in the museum at Saint-Germain-en- 
Laye, near Paris, to find that he had translated this 
article into French and had it published in a French 
periodical. 

Another discovery which claimed my attention 
about this time w T as that of two human skeletons, 
found by Mr. Concannon at the base of the loess, in 
Lansing, near Leavemvorth, Kansas, in a portion of 
the bluff which here borders the Missouri River. 
This was brought to the notice of the world by Mr. 
M. C. Long, an enterprising archaeologist of Kansas 
City. The problem was to determine whether the 
tunnel in which Mr. Concannon found these skeletons 
was in the original undisturbed deposit of loess. Upon 
this point there was considerable diversity of opinion. 
To satisfy my own mind I made as many as three 
visits to the region, studying the loess deposits of Kan- 
sas City, Leavenworth, and St. Joseph. At St. Jo- 
seph, I was greatly assisted by Miss Luella A. Ow T en, 
who had made a careful study of the region, and who 
was a member of the International Geographical So- 
ciety. Under her guidance I visited the remarkable 
deposits of loess at St. Joseph, where subsequently she 
found a palaeolithic implement embedded in what was 



338 Story of My Life 

without any doubt the original loess deposit. With 
her and Mr. Long I also visited the Lansing locality. 
Subsequently, Professor N. H. Winchell and Mr. 
Warren Upham made two visits to the region, and 
collected evidence that seemed to establish beyond 
reasonable doubt, that the Lansing skeleton was found 
in loess that had not been disturbed since its original 
deposition. In an elaborate joint article prepared by 
Miss Owen and myself, and published in the Ameri- 
can Geologist (vol. xxxiii), the evidence of the an- 
tiquity of these skeletons w T as fully, and, I think, sat- 
isfactorily, collected and presented. I also published 
an illustrated popular article in Records of the Past, 
which brought out the facts clearly. 

The principal objection to the glacial age of these 
skeletons is due to two misapprehensions — (i) to the 
assignment of extreme antiquity to the closing scenes 
of the Glacial epoch. This creates unnecessary ad- 
verse presumptions, unfavorable to the genuineness of 
the discovery. (2) The resemblance of the skeletons to 
those of modern man leads those who are devoted to 
extreme evolutionary views to reject the evidence with- 
out due examination. But on the other hand, Dr. 
Arthur Keith, of London, finds the evidence of the 
full development of the human skeleton during the 
Glacial epoch in England, to coincide and confirm the 



Across A si (i 339 

glacial age of the Lansing skull, which he has no dif- 
ficulty in accepting as genuine. 1 

SUMMARY OF THE RESULTS OF THE ASIATIC TRIP 

1. My scientific lectures in Japan were instru- 
mental not only in interesting a very wide circle of 
hearers, but also, I was told years afterwards by a 
missionary (not connected with my own denomina- 
tion), in securing for them a much more favorable 
hearing than they had before been able to obtain. The 
Japanese were duly influenced by the fact that scien- 
tific culture did not necessarily interfere with Christian 
belief. This to me is one of the most gratifying results 
of my lecture tour in Japan. 

2. My extensive intercourse with Russians of all 
classes gave me a more favorable impression of the 
Russian people and government, and a more hopeful 
view of their future, than I had been led to entertain 
by the various writers whose books and articles had 
come to my notice. Instead of finding the Russians 
of all classes given over to the drinking of vodka and 
to bacchanalian carousals, I found an unusual propor- 
tion of the people were total abstainers from alcoholic 
beverages. My first contact with a high Russian of- 
ficial in Japan was with an attractive young man, 
who, though offering me cigarettes, did not smoke 
himself in my presence. The missionaries assured me 
that he was a total abstainer from alcohol, and co- 



3-j-O Story of My Life 

operated heartily with them in promoting total ab- 
stinence. The colonel of high rank to whom we had 
an introduction, and whom we met at Port Arthur, 
turned down his glass when the wine came aro nd at 
the dinner table, as did two brilliantly decorated 
young members of the governor's staff with whom we 
dined at Irkutsk. A fair proportion of the Cossrcks 
who conducted us from station to station through 
Manchuria neither drank nor smoked. Practically all 
the steamboats upon the Siberian rivers are owned and 
run by " Raskolniks," a religious sect estimate! to 
number more than 12,000,000 individuals, one of 
whose cardinal principles is abstinence from alcohol 
and tobacco. Repeatedly, also, in our tarantass rides 
through Siberia, we found ourselves in villages of this 
sect, "where it was not possible to get anything to drink 
stronger than milk and water. 

3. We were impressed with the general dissemi- 
nation of knowledge throughout all the Russian com- 
munities. In every city of ten or twelve thousand in- 
habitants there was a museum open to the public, 
which conveyed ethnological and historical facts in 
such a way that those who could not read could yet 
understand ; while the educated classes with whom we 
came in contact, and who were found in every com- 
munity, were very highly educated. As already noted, 
we w T ere repeatedly requested by engineers, high-school 



Across Asia 341 

superintendents, and curators of museums y o converse 
with them in Latin, when other languages were not 
available. The common soldiers, whom we met every- 
where, were able, in connection with our maps, to 
make us understand what they believed to be the 
destiny of their Empire, in reaching open ports on the 
Pacific and the Persian Gulf, and in getting free pas- 
sage through the Dardanelles. 

4. The religious situation in Russia put on a new 
aspect to us as we mingled with the priests and peo- 
ple, and attended services in their churches. The 
priests are required to be married, and though evi- 
dently not of uniformly high intellectual attainments 
still fill the role which is most needed. They are kind 
and sympathetic, and their families for the most part 
exemplary; while the liturgy of the Church brings to 
the minds of the people the richest truths of the gos- 
pel. A large portion of their church service consists 
in the reading of Scripture, and the Bible is every- 
where freely circulated. Repeatedly in Siberia we en- 
countered colporteurs, coming upon the train and of- 
fering us Bibles for sale. In the ninety-three post- 
houses at which we stopped in going through Turkes- 
tan we found upon every table a portion of the Scrip- 
tures translated into the language of the region, and 
bearing the imprint of the Petrograd Bible Society, 
acting in conjunction with the British and Foreign 



342 Story of My Life 

Bible Society; and we learned that the agents of the 
Bible Society had free passes from the government, 
for both themselves and their baggage, over the entire 
railroad system. 

5. Russian church music is the best in the world, 
and most effective in bringing home to the hearts of 
the people the essentials of the doctrines of Christian- 
ity. On purchasing a large collection of their church 
music at Blagovestchensk, I found that it ha 1 all passed 
through the hands of the eminent Russian composer, P. 
Tchaikovsky. He also had composed a considerable 
amount. Among his compositions was the music for 
the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, oie of the most 
precious relics of early religious literature. Tchai- 
kovsky's setting of music for the Liturgy was so highly 
valued by my musical associates at Oberlin, that I 
translated the words into English and adjusted them 
to the music, so that our choir could make use of it. 
On learning what I had done, Jurgenson, the principal 
musical publisher of Moscow, requested the privilege 
of publishing an edition with my words. This he did, 
and I consider it one of the most gratifying accom- 
plishments of my life that I should have secured the 
association of my name with that of Tchaikovsky, in 
the following title-page: Liturgy of St. John Chry- 
sostom. Set to Four-Part Choral Music for Mixed 
Voices. Composed by P, Tchaikovsky. Words trans- 



Across Asia 343 

lated and adjusted to Music by G. P'rederick Wright. 
Op. 41. Moscow and Leipsic: P. Jurgenson. 

The composition consists of fifteen pieces, and is as 
varied in its character as are the themes of the Liturgy 
itself, leading up, from what in the Latin mass is the 
Kyrie, to a magnificent Hallelujah chorus, which 
celebrates the completion of the redemptive work of 
Christ. The Liturgy includes a cherubim song which 
is peculiar to the Greek Church; the Lord's Prayer; 
and the entire Nicene Creed. 

This Liturgy is everywhere used in the Russian 
churches, and of itself is sufficient to bring the entire 
circle of Christian truth home to the hearts of the peo- 
ple. The music is rendered by male voices, without 
instrumental accompaniment, the singers being a part 
of the church officials. Let one go into any church 
whatever throughout the Empire, and he will hear this 
Liturgy sounded forth in the noblest and most appro- 
priate harmonies conceivable. There are no seats in 
the Russian churches, so that rich and poor, high and 
low, officers and subalterns, all crowd in together in 
the most democratic fashion. It is a most touching scene 
to see, as we frequently did, a horny-handed peasant and 
his care-burdened wife come into a magnificent church 
together and stand with the tears rolling down their 
cheeks when the choir sounds out the sublime words 
of the Nicene Creed : ' I believe in Jesus Christ the only 



344 Story of My Life 

begotten Son of God . . . who for us sinful men came 
down from heaven . . . and became like unto men, and 
was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and he suffered 
and was buried, but he rose on the third day accord- 
ing to the word, and ascended into heaven most high 
and now sitteth at the right hand of God/ But it 
was a still more impressive scene to encounter far out 
in the Siberian wilderness a church car provided with 
a priest and choir and all the necessary preparations for 
a church service, and to see the people gathered from 
their lonely fields of labor, and the third-class pas- 
sengers of our train, taking part in a service as noble 
and beautiful as any that is rendered in the largest 
and richest cities of the Empire. In no country in the 
world are the common people more completely im- 
bued with the principles and truths of the gospel than 
in Russia. Through all the formalism of the church 
services, the truths of the Christian system shine with 
irresistible power, illustrating the statement of the 
Evangelist concerning Christ's ministry, that " he 
could not be hid." 

6. When wandering about in the vast fertile fields 
and riding through the dense forests and rich mining 
regions of Siberia, and noting the boundless oppor- 
tunities for irrigation in Turkestan, w^here the Tian- 
Shan Mountains, rising thousands of feet higher than 
the Alps, and with twenty times their mass, keep the 



Across Asia 345 

water in cold storage, to be let down in unfailing 
quantities throughout the spring and summer when it 
is needed, it was easy for us to foresee an immense 
immigration following upon the opening of the coun- 
try by the building of the tnms-Siberian and Trans- 
caspian railroads. And, as already noted, such an 
immigration from Russia has taken place during the 
last decade on an enormous scale ; and village com- 
munes of Russian settlers are rapidly transforming 
Turkestan and southern Siberia into densely populated 
centers of modern civilization. The future of Asiatic 
Russia is boundless in its possibilities, and its develop- 
ment is rapidly becoming actual. Even in 1900, in a 
small bookstore in Omsk on the Irtysh River, I pur- 
chased books of as high a grade as could be found 
upon the counters of the largest bookstores of the Mid- 
dle West in America. There are single libraries in 
Siberia and Turkestan that compare with the best 
we have in America outside the Atlantic Coast and in 
some of our largest universities in the Interior. 

7. With reference to the scientific objects of my 
trip, the following conclusions seem worthy not only 
to be put on record, but also to be emphasized, lest 
they fail to receive proper recognition : 

(1) As already stated, the glaciated areas in Mon- 
golia and in the Transbaikal region as marked on the 
maps in James Geikie's last edition of " The Great 



346 Story of My Life 

Ice Age," proved to be non-existent. There may have 
been limited accumulations of ice upon the Vitim 
plateau, east of Lake Baikal, which rises to the height 
of 5,000 feet above the sea. But it is certain that 
glaciers did not descend from it into the broad and 
beautiful valley which runs north from Chita along 
the eastern border of the plateau. My observations 
to this effect were, as already stated, emphatically 
seconded by the Russian geologists I afterwards met 
in Petrograd. It was also evident that no glaciers ever 
came down into the plains north of the Tian-Shan 
Mountains to become confluent, as they did from the 
Alps in Switzerland during the Glacial epoch, though 
the Tian-Shan Mountains, as we have said, are vastly 
higher and more massive than the Alps and in the 
same latitude. As already noted, also, later direct 
observations by Professors Davis and Huntington 
brought to light the fact that the glaciers in the Tian- 
Shan Mountains never descended below the level of 
7,000 feet, while at the present time they are limited 
to the level of 12,000 feet. 

(2) As to the origin and the distribution of the 
loess, my observations supported the theory that it is 
of glacial origin, and that its distribution has been 
accomplished by both wind and water. In northern 
and western China it is found on mountain passes 
5,000 feet above the sea, where it could have been 



Across Asia 347 

brought only by the agency of wind; while, in the bor- 
dering plains and valleys at lower levels, it has very 
clearly been distributed by water during a period when 
the land was depressed considerably below its present 
level. The erosion of the loess in the higher levels is 
now progressing rapidly, and its redeposition is taking 
place on the flood plains of the Yang-tze and the 
Hwangho, and some of the smaller rivers farther 
north, while immense bordering shoals of it are being 
built up along the whole northeastern coast. These 
deposits are known to have encroached upon the sea 
for a distance of many miles. 

If, however, the glacial origin of the loess is main- 
tained, the source of the Chinese material must be 
looked for in the vast mountain masses which sur- 
round the basin west of the desert of Gobi, where, in 
the Himalaya and Tian-Shan mountains, the glaciers 
are still slowly grinding out their grist of loess to be 
carried by the streams of the plains below, where it is 
taken up by the westerly winds and transported for 
thousands of miles to the eastern border of Mongolia. 
But during the Glacial epoch these loess mills were 
far more active than now, so that we may well believe 
they could have supplied the material w r hich, trans- 
ported by the winds, became entangled in the network 
of low mountain chains and tortuous valleys which 
characterize northeastern China, whence the ever- 



348 Story of My Life 

active streams have, until now, been transporting and 
spreading it out at lower levels, to serve the varied 
interests of that populous empire. In Turkestan, like- 
wise, the immense deposits of loess about Tashkent and 
Samarkand may be traced to the glaciers in the Tian- 
Shan Mountains, where the rivers rise which still 
fertilize those populous historic regions. In southern 
Russia, too, the fertile wheat-bearing black belt is a 
loess deposit, related to the Glacial epoch in Europe 
as the prairies of the Mississippi Valley are to that 
epoch in North America. 

(3) I was permitted, also, to add something to 
the evidence, already existing, of great recent changes 
of level throughout western Siberia, Central Asia, and 
eastern Europe. The southern end of Lake Baikal is 
shown by my calculations to be a very recent geologi- 
cal depression, whose age can be estimated in tens of 
thousands rather than hundreds of thousands of years, 
thus supporting the general contention that some of the 
vast geological changes which took place in the closing 
stages of the Tertiary period date from less than one 
hundred thousand years ago. The evidence of an ex- 
tensive postglacial depression of the region extending 
from Lake Baikal to central Europe is such as cannot 
be reasonably questioned. In nddition to that derived 
from the presence in Lake Baikal of arctic seal, much 
specific direct evidence was brought to light in the 



Across Asia 349 

course of our journey through Turkestan. For nearly 
a thousand miles we drove along the base of the Tian- 

Shan Mountains, at an elevation of about 2,000 feet 
above the sea. Wherever the numerous mountain 
streams debouched upon the northern plain there were 
apparently deltas of loess such as would be formed if 
the water stood at that level when the silt-laden 
streams entered it. Subsequently as the land was ele- 
vated these deltas were very much dissected by the ero- 
sion of the stream ; still, not so much so as wholly to 
disguise the original formation. On reaching Trebi- 
zond on the south shore of the Black Sea, we found 
still clearer evidence. Here, at an elevation of 650 
feet above the sea, as already detailed, there is an ex- 
tensive deposit of gravel clinging to the sides of the 
volcanic mass of rock at whose base the city is built. 
Its situation on the steep declivity of the mountain is 
such that it could not have remained there indefinitely. 
The significance of these facts I will not here dis- 
cuss; but in " Asiatic Russia," " Scientific Confirma- 
tions of Old Testament History," and " Origin and 
Antiquity of Man," I have presented the theory, that 
this depression is connected in some way with the ac- 
count of the Deluge, both in the Sacred Scriptures of 
the Jews and in the cuneiform inscriptions unearthed 
in Babylonia. 



350 Story of My Life 



CHAPTER XII 



THIRD VISIT TO EUROPE 



In the fall of 1904, my first wife having died five 
years before, I was married to Florence E. Bedford, a 
Quaker lady, who had become deeply interested in my 
scientific investigations ; and in the following year, 
with her, I made my third visit to Europe. This 
time, after landing in Liverpool, we spent a week or 
two with the Cottsworths in York, revisiting the 
scenes of geological and archaeological interest in that 
region, and then went to Kilmarnock to visit my 
friend and coadjutor, Rev. James Lindsay, a philoso- 
phical student of wide repute, and a most highly es- 
teemed coworker in editing the Blbliotheca Sacra. 
Dr. Lindsay had then been for a long time pastor of 
the Old Scotch Kirk of the town, and thus was able 
to introduce me to the work and aims of that branch 
of the Presbyterian family. After a very profitable 
visit with him and his mother and sisters, with whom 
he was then living, we sailed from Leith to Copen- 
hagen, where we had the great privilege of meeting 
Dr. Fausboll, Professor of Sanskrit in the University, 
whose daughter we had met while governess in the 



Third Visit to Europe 351 

family of Governor Bistrup in Greenland. Professor 
Sophus Miiller, the eminent archaeologist in charge of 
the museum at Copenhagen, also gave us a cordial re- 
ception and was very helpful in facilitating our plans 
to visit the kitchen middens in the vicinity, where we 
could see for ourselves the elevated shell heaps in 
which the oldest indications of man's presence in Den- 
mark are to he found. The most important of these 
was at Frederickswerke, which was typical of all the 
kitchen middens, showing a considerable elevation of 
land since the deposits were made. Near this place 
also was a typical dolmen, showing an immense flat 
stone resting upon stone pillars three or four feet high, 
making it difficult to surmise how such an immense 
stone could be elevated and made to rest in so unstable 
a position. The solution provided by the King of 
Denmark himself is probably correct, being the same 
as that relating to the elevation of the great stones in 
the Egyptian temples, namely, that the earth was piled 
up around the pillars, forming a mound of gradual 
slant, up which the flat covering-stone could be pulled 
by main strength and let down upon the pillars, after 
which the earth would be removed and the imposing 
monument left to appear with all its impressiveness. 

In the museum at Copenhagen it was gratifying to 
see a collection of paleolithic implements found by 
Dr. Abbott in the gravel deposits at Trenton, New T 



352 Story of My Life 

Jersey. Altogether Copenhagen left upon us the 
pleasantest impression of any city which we visited. 
Its museum is well-nigh unrivalled, both in the 
amount and in the arrangement of the treasures which 
it contains. Its art galleries, especially that of Thor- 
waldsen, are crowded full of most interesting objects. 
Its people are well educated and contented, and are 
not separated by the extremes of wealth and poverty 
as in most other cities. 

With regret that we covld not remain longer, we 
left Copenhagen and crossed over to Malmo in Swe- 
den, where Professor N. O. Hoist of the Geological 
Survey had asked us to meet him, to see some of the 
interesting glacial phenomena of the region. Dr. 
Hoist had visited Greenland and published most im- 
portant observations upon its glacial phenomena, rnd 
had also been sent to Australia to study the evidence 
of a glacial epoch in that continent which occurred 
many millions of years ago in the early geological 
ages. He had also visited me in the United States 
and familiarized himself with my discoveries here 
and with a wide range of the glacial field in America. 

Provided with a midday lunch, and accompanied by 
Professor H. G. Simmons (who, as botanist, had ac- 
companied the Sverdrup expedition to Greenland), w T e 
proceeded into the interior, partly by train and partly 
by hand car. At Tapplelargo, twelve miles east from 



Third Visit to Europe 353 

Malm6j we came to an area of several acres covered 
with an overwash deposit from the terminal moraine, 
which is a mile or more distant. In a stratum of clay, 
about seven feet thick, many species of shells and plants 
are found, indicating peculiar conditions which can be 
accounted for only by supposing that during the final 
melting away of the ice the summers became very 
warm, so as to allow temperate species to flourish close 
up to the ice front, thus allowing them to mingle with 
arctic or subarctic species. 

It is evident from inspection of the stratum that 
these species lived and w T ere deposited contempora- 
neously, and not by an advance of the ice after an in- 
terglacial period. This would seem to meet the case 
of the commingling of temperate and subarctic species 
which Professor Coleman has described in the vicinity 
of Toronto, and so greatly simplify our interpretation 
of glacial phenomena in the northern United States 
and in Canada. 

We were also taken to the most remarkable glacial 
bowlder that has ever been reported. This was a 
mass of chalk, five miles east of Malmo, which extends 
three miles in a northeast and southwest direction, 
averages 1,000 feet in width, and from 100 to 200 
feet in thickness, being, so far as I know, the largest 
bowlder, or glacially transported mass, that has been 
described. It is everywhere covered with till, and al- 



354 Story of My Life 

most everywhere has till underneath it. Its position 
is between what we should call the upper and the 
lower till, the upper till being yellow and the lower 
blue. But in one place, which I examined, the lower 
or blue till was both above and below it. 

While the chalk is together in one mass, it every- 
where shows signs of immense pressure and disturb- 
ance, being broken up into small cubes, and having its 
flint nodules cracked and arranged in lines simulating 
stratification. The upper part of the chalk has also 
been extensively sheared off and mingled with the till. 

This mass of chalk has been brought fully to light 
through its commercial value, eight or ten companies 
having mined or quarried it for many years. It be- 
longs to the true soft chalk of Cretaceous age, and 
had been supposed by nearly all of the earlier geolo- 
gists to indicate a Cretaceous area, where it was least 
to be expected, since the chalk which mainly underlies 
the peninsula belongs to the Trias or Lias. The de- 
termination of its glacial transportation has therefore 
solved a very difficult problem. It must have been 
picked up bodily from the shores or bed of the Baltic 
Sea, and transferred westward many miles to its pres- 
ent position. 

Dr. Hoist detailed to us here an account of a dis- 
covery of the remains of prehistoric man which had 



Third Visit to Europe .355 

long been discredited by the Professor of Geology at 
Lund, by reason of his distrust of the honesty of the 
workmen who had found the objects. These work- 
men were engaged in quarrying the chalk, and they 
averred that they found in the quarry implements 
made from the horns and bones of animals which still 
occupied the region. These stories the Professor 
tossed aside as pure fabrications, but events proved 
that the w r orkmen w r ere honest and told the facts as 
they understood them. It seems that prehistoric man 
had discovered the value of the flints for making im- 
plements, and had dug through the sheet of till, w T hich 
overlay the deposit containing these flints, and had 
made extensive excavations in the chalk, to obtain the 
material for their tools and weapons. But when man 
had emerged from the stone age to the use of bronze 
and iron, these quarries w T ere neglected, and in time 
were filled up with sediment carried in by heavy rains 
and melting snow. It was, therefore, true that, when 
the workmen of later times were quarrying away a 
perpendicular face of the chalky mass, these imple- 
ments of bone and chipped flints fell out upon them, 
coming to all appearance from the body of the chalk. 
A little more patience in interpreting the evidence 
would have saved the credit of the w T orkmen for hon- 
esty, and have earlier led to the important archaeologi- 
cal discoveries which Dr. Hoist had just made. 



35^. Story of My Life 

Being unable himself to leave his geological work, 
Dr. Hoist sent his nephew along with us in our 
journey to Solvitsborg, sixty or seventy miles farther 
north, to visit a typical section of the postglacial 
raised beaches which were near his own home. These 
we found to be most impressive from every point of 
view. Several miles back from the sea and 170 feet 
above it, in a recess on the side of the mountain, there 
were vast windrows of pebbles, many of them a foot 
or more in diameter, which had evidently been 
washed into position by the tumultuous waves of the 
ocean when it stood at that level. The fine material 
had all been washed away, and, as the land rose, 
three or four lower windrows of pebbles had been 
formed. While these raised beaches are only 170 
feet above the sea, others, found far to the north, are 
1,000 feet above the sea, indicating a postglacial ele- 
vation of the land there to that extent. 

Space will not permit me to speak of the delightful 
days spent in Stockholm, the Venice of the north, ex- 
cept to say that here we were just in time to see some 
of the recently discovered chains of gold, which had 
been dug from some of the mounds of the region and 
had belonged to a prehistoric princess of high rank. 
The possession of such a mass of gold, far away from 
the mines from which it must have been extracted, 
was no less surprising than it was instructive concern- 



Third Visit to Europe 357 

ing the high development of the prehistoric race that 
inhabited the peninsula. 

Sailing through the countless islands that guard 
the entrance of Stockholm, and pausing for a short 
time at Helsingfors in Finland, we at length reached 
Petrograd, where we were both surprised and de- 
lighted that they allowed us to land without looking 
at our passports or examining our baggage. On 
reaching the hotel, however, our passports were sur- 
rendered, and no more was thought about them till 
we left the city. But on account of them we felt a 
safety which is not always appreciated by travelers in 
Russia, but w^hich is illustrated by an interesting ex- 
perience of Professor Charles M. Mead who, as he 
told me, at one time had lost his way in Petrograd, 
and had forgotten the name of his hotel. At last it 
occurred to him to report himself to the police de- 
partment. On doing this, they looked up his pass- 
port and were able immediately to give him the needed 
directions. 

After a few days spent calling on the geologists, 
(when we found that Nikitin had passed away and 
that Tchernyschev was promoted to the head of the 
Survey) ; visiting the museums and art galleries 
(where we found ourselves elbowing our way amid 
a crowd of which no small proportion were peasants, 



358 Story of My Life 

in their homely costume) ; and attending operas, 
(where again we encountered a large company of 
plainly dressed people, consisting of families with 
their children), we took train for the 400-mile ride 
to Moscow. 

This was the time of the Russo-Japanese war, and 
Russia was under military rule, and in the throes of 
the revolutionary attempts of that critical time. The 
students in the university at Moscow were on a 
strike, demanding permission to bring into the class- 
rooms socialistic lectures of their own choice. But 
good order prevailed, and we were not in any meas- 
ure discommoded by the condition of things. One 
morning after we had been two or three days in our 
quarters at the Slavonsky Bazaar, the clerk came to 
me with a letter from William T. Stead, saying that 
he was to arrive the next day and desired the 
reservation of a suite of rooms with " a southern 
exposure." As the clerk was doubtful about the 
significance of the word "southern," he came to me 
for help, which I readily gave him. 

The advent of Air. Stead was an event of great in- 
terest, for he had been invited by the Czar to come 
from England to visit him and give him advice in the 
present crisis, and act as an intermediary between him 
and the revolutionary forces. Mr. Stead told me that 
his interview with the Czar was extremely satisfac- 



Third Visit to I 4 l u rofw 359 

tory, that he had had a licart-to-heart talk with him, 
such as he had never had with anyone else. He said 
that he found the Czar a man of alert mind, well- 
posted on all affairs connected with his position, and 
evidently anxious to do what was best for all parties 
concerned. The only criticism he had to make of 
the Czar was that he w T as inclined to agree with the 
last man who talked with him, " which, by the way," 
Mr. Stead remarked, " is not a bad quality in a con- 
stitutional monarch." 

When Mr. Stead was in Petrograd he exercised 
great freedom in associating with the Liberal party, 
and urged the authorities to free the distinguished 
agitator Miliukov from his imprisonment, which was 
done at his request. Soon after, at a meeting of the 
Liberal men of the city, both native and foreign, at 
which Miliukov was present, much to their astonish- 
ment, there was free discussion as to the course which 
should be pursued by the government. Among those 
present to take part in the discussion was Lewis 
Nixon, former head of Tammany in New York, who 
was now in Russia to assist in the building up of their 
navy. In emphatic manner Nixon asserted that the 
thing most needed in Russia w T as a series of Tam- 
many Halls. In reporting this, Mr. Stead looked 
up with a very knowing expression on his face and 
said, " Perhaps Nixon is not so far off as he might 



360 Story of My Life 

seem ; for, paradoxical as it may appear, I am not sure 
but the political corruption of New York and Chi- 
cago is destined to be the salvation of America; for 
the foreigners emigrating to America are mostly im- 
bued with anarchistic ideas and are opposed to all 
government, but they are cordially received by Tam- 
many, assisted to homes and occupations, and aided 
in times of trouble, while all that is required in re- 
turn is that they vote the Tammany ticket." "And 
why shouldn't they," said Nixon. " Then they be- 
come good citizens," continued Stead, "and. are made 
conservative by the responsibility that rests upon the 
governing power." 

Mr. Stead had come down to Moscow to attend a 
meeting of the Zemstvos and convey to it the greet- 
ings of the Czar and his desire for cooperation. From 
the subsequent turn of affairs, it would seem that 
Stead's mission was by no means fruitless. The first 
Duma was so impractical that the country would 
have been torn to pieces if it had been allowed to 
have its way. The courage and constancy shown by 
the Czar, in holding on to the reins of government 
until a new Duma could be chosen which could be 
trusted to preserve the unity of the Empire while 
gradually introducing the safeguards of a constitu- 
tional government, have never been fully appreciated. 



Third Visit to Europe 361 

Nor has the outside public ever given full credit 
to the government and the higher classes in Russia 
in their general efforts to promote the welfare of the 
masses of the people. At this time in Russia, the 
sale of intoxicating liquors had been taken out of the 
hands of the saloon keepers and was wholly under the 
direct control of the government, and liquors were 
sold only in sealed packages to be used off the prem- 
ises. No drinking was allowed at the place of sale. 
This method was adopted with the hope that it 
would diminish the sale of vodka. But, as we now 
know, it did not do so. Still, the adoption of this plan 
by the government rendered possible the wholesale pro- 
hibition of the sale of vodka, which was made at the 
beginning of the present war. 

In connection with the closing of the saloons, the 
government established, as a temperance measure, 
numerous clean, cheap, lodging places in the cities, 
where nourishing foods and temperance drinks were 
furnished at a low cost, and connected with them halls 
where cheap public entertainments could be provided 
for the people. These consisted of lectures on vari- 
ous practical and entertaining subjects, of stereopti- 
con entertainments, and musical performances of a 
high order. I attended one of these in the outskirts 
of Moscow. But, being a little late, when I applied 
for a ticket of admission I was surprised to find the 



362 Story of My Life 

charge was seventy-five cents, which seemed to me 
not a very popular price. On entering, however, my 
mind was disabused of this misunderstanding. The 
hall would hold about one thousand, and in the back 
part there was standing room for a hundred persons 
w T ho could obtain admittance for two cents and a 
half apiece. This w T as filled, some of the occupants 
being women with children in arms. The back row 
of seats were sold at five cents apiece; the second 
row at seven and one half cents apiece, and so on 
increasing up to the front row, w T here I purchased 
my seat at seventy-five cents. The opera that evening 
was Glinka's " Life for the Czar," the music of which 
is of the highest order, and the whole opera the most 
popular in Russia. The performance was by a cast 
of the best- soloists of the city, accompanied by a first- 
class orchestra. The enthusiasm of the audience was 
a fine tribute to the musical education of the masses 
in Russian cities. 

It is a long ride from Moscow to Rostov on the 
Don, requiring two nights on a sleeping car. On 
going to our first meal in the diner, we were seated 
opposite a dignified-appearing, elderly military officer 
accompanied by a lady of slight frame and intellect- 
ual countenance, thirty or forty years of age. In our 
efforts to order food from the waiter we elicited the 



Third Visit to Europe 

sympathy of the lady, who, perceiving our difficulty, 
asked us in perfect English if she could not render 
assistance, which of course we gladly accepted. This 
opened the way to an acquaintance, which, aside from 
being most agreeable, was a revelation respecting 
Russian society. Airs. Rubeyny was the wife of a 
Cossack colonel stationed at Askabad in Turkestan, 
but she had come home to accompany her aged father 
to Petrograd for an operation upon his eyes, with the 
hope of restoring his failing sight. He was the com- 
missary general of the whole Caucasus region, but did 
not understand English. This, however, did not 
prevent his scrupulous attendance upon our w T ants, 
directing the waiters when he saw they might be 
neglecting their duties. His fatherly interest in some 
of the young soldiers who were on the train was in- 
dicative of what I had elsew T here observed was char- 
acteristic of Russian officers. Mrs. Rubeyny was 
well-read in English Literature and was thoroughly 
informed in all matters concerning the Russian Em- 
pire, of which she w T as a most loyal subject. In 
passing through the Donnetz coal fields, she was able 
to give us all the desired information as to the qual- 
ity and quantity of the coal and the difficulties of 
getting it to market. She, like most of the Rus- 
sian officers we met, was depressed by the recent peace 
with Japan. " We ought to have been allowed an- 



364 Story of My Life 

other campaign. But," she said, " we are a great 
people and very patient." The remarkable intelli- 
gence and high character of Mrs. Rubeyny were typ- 
ical of those of many others whom, first and last, I 
was permitted to meet in Siberia and in European 
Russia. 

At Rostov on the Don we remained several days 
for the purpose of studying the loess deposits in the 
vicinity, which we found to confirm our previous 
observations indicating the agency of water as well as of 
wind in its deposition. Here we were greatly furthered 
in our plans by the English consul, but especially by 
Herr Reidel (the German consul though a Russian by 
birth), who had visited America and was now the 
agent of one of the large companies in America man- 
ufacturing harvesters. Herr Reidel was very much 
interested in the archaeology of the region, and in the 
general evidence concerning changes of land level in 
the Caucasus region. One day he accompanied us in 
a drive of twenty miles, northeast, to visit the ruins 
of a Greek city, to which archaeologists had paid little 
attention. Its foundation dated back some centuries 
before the Christian era; and the piles of debris dis- 
played, around the eroded surfaces, abundant frag- 
ments of vases and statuary, inviting thorough ex- 
ploration. But after walking over these remains for 



Third Fish to Europe 365 

an hour or so we were compelled to return to Ros- 
tov, lest darkness should overtake us and expose us 
to robbers who were crawling about the outskirts of 
the city. As it was, however, darkness did over- 
take us. But Herr Reidel was well-armed and had 
taken pains to have his coachman drive in a separate 
carriage close behind us, which evidently was all that 
saved us from an attempted robbery by a small band 
that stopped us on the way, but wisely concluded that 
we were too many and too well-prepared to be suc- 
cessfully waylaid. 

Our plan was to go from Rostov to Tiflis over the 
Dariel Pass, stopping at Armavir to study the extensive 
loess deposits to be found in that vicinity. We had 
heard, however, that the Caucasus tribes were restless 
and were disturbing trains and travelers. But Mrs. 
Rubeyny had assured us that it wx>uld be perfectly safe 
to make the journey, " since," she said, " doubtless 
you do not carry money with you but a letter of 
credit, so that there will be no temptation for high- 
waymen to rob you." The consuls at Rostov, how- 
ever, advised us strongly against the trip, especially 
as a train had recently been held up at Armavir and 
shots interchanged, by which several were killed. 
"But," we explained, " we have a letter of introduc- 
tion from the Russian embassy at Washington to the 
Governor General of the Caucasus, which certainly 



366 Story of My Life 

will protect us." " That is just the thing that will not 
protect you," the}' replied, " for it is the Governor 
General they are trying to kill." Whereupon we 
changed our plans and proceeded down the Don 
River, which for a long distance wended its way 
through the countless river boats which had come 
with supplies of wheat and wool for export to the 
Western world. 

After a short stop at Tagnarog, where steamers of 
all nations receive their cargoes to be taken to the 
ends of the world, we crossed the shallow Sea of Azov, 
and paused for a day or two at Kertch, where a fort- 
ress guards the narrow outlet from the Sea of Azov 
to the Black Sea. Here, too, is the site of an ancient 
Grecian city, but in this case the ruins have been 
extensively excavated and countless treasures of Gre- 
cian art taken to Petrograd. However, sufficient are 
left to fill a museum of great interest, while upon the 
summit of an overlooking hill, where it is reported 
that Mithridates w T as buried, public-spirited Russians 
have erected a temple in imitation of the Parthenon, 
which is so like it in shape and position that one can 
easily imagine, on entering the harbor, that he is ap- 
proaching Athens itself. Some miles out from the 
city there is an abandoned aqueduct, whose purpose 
it is difficult to imagine from the present lack of water 



Third I "is'u to Europe 367 

supply. An exte'nsive artificial mound which we vis- 
ited, reminded us, in appearance, of that at Miamis- 
burgh, in Ohio. On excavating it, it was found that 

the pile of earth completely enveloped a rock-built in- 
closure, drawn to a point at the top, which is almost a 
duplicate of one at Mycenae in Greece sacred to the 
memory of Agamemnon. For nearly two thousand 
years this mound had concealed the treasures of art 
that had been deposited in the inclosure. 

After pausing at Theodosia, where a replica of the 
Grecian temple at Kertch crowned the hill overlook- 
ing the city, and visiting the celebrated gallery of 
paintings that a public-spirited citizen of fine taste had 
furnished at great expense and donated to the public, 
we proceeded to the noted watering place of Yalta. 
At Lavidia, adjoining it on the west, the Czar has a 
splendid palace, amid extensive grounds, looking down 
upon the blue surface of the Black Sea; while Yalta 
itself has attracted the aristocracy of the whole Em- 
pire, making it a resort of unrivalled interest. This 
charming spot is surrounded by a semicircle of moun- 
tains, several thousand feet in height, which protect 
it from northern winds and secure a climate that, 
even in winter, is very grateful to the people of the 
north. The only approach to it is by w T ater and by 
a military road, running westward along the flanks 
of the mountains and keeping about 2,000 feet above 



3^8 Story of My Life 

the sea to Sevastopol, a distance of sixty miles. Over 
this well-kept road we drove in a private carriage in 
a single day. Words cannot express the charm of 
that drive, as we dashed in and out of the recesses of 
the winding roadway, now with the w^eird form of 
the cloud-capped mountains before us and now with 
the picturesque hamlets and private residences coming 
to view on the seashore, 2,000 feet below us. When 
about two-thirds of the way, we stopped for dinner 
and rest at the summit, where the road leaves the 
sea; then, after passing through the vale of Bidar, 
celebrated for its vineyards, and being driven down 
the sloping fields where the fatal " charge of the 
six hundred " took place, w r ith Balaclava on one side, 
and the Malakoff on the other, we entered Sevasto- 
pol, w T ith galloping horses, some time before the close 
of day. 

A week at Sevastopol is all too short to familiarize 
oneself w T ith the objects of historical and archaeolog- 
ical interest in the city and its environs. A commo- 
dious harbor, protected by surrounding hills, has 
predestined it to be for all time a military fortress of 
greatest value to the Russian Empire, while every por- 
tion of the city itself and the country immediately 
surrounding it were made forever interesting by the 
scenes attending its siege during the Crimean War. 
Here, English, French, Turkish, and Italian soldiers 



Third I isit to Europe 31,9 

Struggled in fierce and deadly conflict with Russians 
during many long and weary months. How strange 
the combination, in view of the alignment of forces in 
the great war which is now convulsing Europe! 

On the promontory just west of Sevastopol are 
the ruins of the ancient Greek city of Chersonese, 
which a Russian archaeological society has explored 
with great thoroughness, filling the local museum 
with innumerable interesting objects of early Grecian 
art. Going through the scenes of the battle of Ink- 
erman, and about twenty miles beyond, one reaches 
Bakhtchi-SaraY, the capital center of the Tartar 
tribes of the Crimea, near which are large numbers 
of the most interesting prehistoric cells, dug into the 
sides of the mountains and occupied for ages by 
monks of various kinds. Two or three miles east of 
Bakhtchi-SaraT, on an inaccessible promontory covered 
with ancient ruins, is a settlement of Caraite Jews, 
who here maintain a theological school and preserve 
ancient manuscripts of great value. The Russian gov- 
ernment has greatly favored this Jewish sect and we 
found in their schoolroom, covered with artistic wood- 
carving, life-size portraits of the Czar and Czarina, 
which they had presented. In the morning when we 
reached Bakhtchi-Sarai' the streets were full of life 
and animation, the shops were all open, and wagons, 



370 Story of My Life 

loaded with fruit and melons and various other pro- 
ducts of the surrounding country, made the passage 
through the city slow and difficult. But, on our re- 
turn after sundown, we found the streets deserted, 
and the shops closed; and it seemed to us that some- 
thing terrible had happened, foreboding evil for those 
who passed through. But we were comforted to learn 
that it was all due to the strict habit of the Moslems 
to close the day's work at sundown and all return to 
the privacy of their homes. 

SYRIA AND PALESTINE 

So much is written about Constantinople that it is 
not worth while to give details concerning our visit 
there, except to say that Robert College, Constantin- 
ople College for Women, the Bible House, and Mrs. 
Marden's school are centers of influence whose value 
cannot be overestimated ; and that, by a process of 
natural selection, the personnel of those carrying on the 
work of these institutions is raised to the highest de- 
gree of efficiency. One incident, however, is so il- 
lustrative of the capacity of Turkish officialdom, that 
we cannot refrain from mentioning it. When our 
trunk was undergoing inspection at the customhouse 
in Constantinople, nothing attracted the attention of 
the inspectors until they reached an atlas of the world 
which already had a history. It was a German pub- 



Third Visit to Europe ^71 

lication of high character, giving in detail the physical 
and political geography of all nations. I had pur- 
chased it in a bookstore in Omsk, Siberia, just as I 
was starting, \n 1900, on my tarantass ride through 
Turkestan. On returning home from that trip I had 
laid it aside In some handy place, for consultation, and 
there it had lain till we were about to start for the 
present trip. But at the last moment I threw it into 
the trunk, as probably what we should need for con- 
sultation in various emergencies. On finding this in 
our possession, the inspector, after faithfully turning 
over the leaves, shook his head, as though in doubt 
what to do, and passed it to another, who did the 
same. But the third inspector knew just where to 
look for treasonable matter, and, opening the leaves 
at four different places, proceeded w T ith his penknife 
to scratch off some objectionable name, which being 
done he closed the atlas, threw it back into the trunk, 
put down the lid, and shoved it through the lines. It 
is needless to say that at our first opportunity we 
examined the atlas to see what had been done, and 
found that the word Armenia had been erased wher- 
ever it occurred. There were " Armenians," but 
" Armenia " had ceased to exist. So it was ruled, and 
so it was believed to be. 

Soon after, while we were in Beirut, the Scotch 
engineer connected with the city waterworks told us 



372 Story of My Life 

an equally characteristic story of Turkish incompre- 
hensibility. Some part of the engine which he was 
erecting, and which had been sent from England, was 
missing, and he went to the office to send a telegram 
to have it forwarded immediately. In describing the 
missing part he had to say that it must make two 
thousand revolutions a minute. The Turkish officials 
were horrified, since one revolution was more than 
they could permit, and two thousand was beyond all 
reason. 

When I had passed through Beirut in 1900, I had 
hoped to visit the cedars of Lebanon, but it was so 
late in the season (the first of December) that it was 
impossible, because of the snow that already enveloped 
the heights of the mountain ranges. But on this visit 
an unrivalled opportunity opened for accomplishing 
the purpose. Professor Alfred E. Day, the accom- 
plished geologist of the Presbyterian College at Beirut, 
was permitted to suspend his classes for a week, to 
conduct me over the ground which had long been 
familiar to him. As we learned that Professor Ben- 
jamin Bacon, of Yale Theological Seminary, was at 
Sidon with George H. Driver, one of his honor pupils, 
we sent them an urgent invitation to accompany us. 
This they did, and one of the most enjoyable and 
profitable weeks of my life was spent under the direc- 



Third Visit to Europe 373 

tion and tutorage of Professor Day. We were pro- 
vided with horses to ride, and accompanied by a 
manager, who supplied tents and provisions for food 
while we worked our way diagonally along the west- 
ern flank of the Lebanon Mountains, up to the vast 
amphitheater (6,000 feet above the sea) at the base 
of the highest peaks of the mountains, 4,000 feet 
higher. Here was a vast and characteristic terminal 
moraine, deposited and deserted by the ice thousands 
of years before, on which a grove of four hundred 
magnificent cedars, surrounded by a wall, are guarded 
and protected. The natives undertook to unsettle the 
higher critical positions of Professor Bacon by assur- 
ing him that these cedars were planted by Christ 
himself, quoting Psalm civ. 16-17, where we read, 
" The trees of the Lord are full of sap ; the cedars of 
Lebanon, which he hath planted ; where the birds make 
their nests." 

On the way from Beirut to the cedars, we passed 
a number of ruins where Greek and Roman inscrip- 
tions were to be seen upon the walls and falien pil- 
lars. To the traveler who has made the diagonal 
journey from Beirut to the cedars, memory fills in 
innumerable details which are concealed from vision 
at any one time. He has crossed Nahr el-Kelb (" Dog 
River"), near its mouth, where he has seen Egyptian 
and Assyrian inscriptions dating from the time of 



374 Story of My Life 

Sennacherib's invasion. Ascending this river, after 
passing numerous villages surrounded by mulberry and 
olive groves, vineyards, and fields of wheat, and paus- 
ing to study the ruins of a temple dating from Roman 
times, and having crossed a natural bridge at Jisr el- 
Hagar with a span of one hundred and twenty feet, 
rising seventy-five feet above the stream, he arrives, at 
the end of the second day, at the ruins of the famous 
temple of Venus destroyed by the order of Constantine 
on account of the. impurity of the rites celebrated in it. 
Here, too, is a famous spring, typical of many others 
which gush forth on either side of the Lebanon range 
from beneath the thick deposits of limestone which 
everywhere crown its summit. The flow of water is 
enormous, and at certain seasons of the year is colored 
red with a mineral matter, w T hich the ancients regarded 
with mysterious reverence. The lower part of the 
amphitheater is covered with verdure and a scanty 
growth of pine and w r alnut trees, but the upper part 
merges in the barren cliffs which lie above the snow 
line. Onward, alternately through upturned limestone 
strata, left by erosion in fantastic forms, and through 
barren areas of red sandstone, where the cedars of Le- 
banon would flourish if protected from the depreda- 
tions of man and his domestic .animals, he crosses by 
turns at higher and higher levels the headwaters of 
the Ibrahim, Fedar, Jozeh, Byblus, and Botrys rivers, 



Third Visit to Europe 375 

and at length reaches, on the fourth day, the Kadisha, 
five miles below the cedars of Lebanon. 

Ascending the summit of Lebanon, to the east of 
the cedars, we find ourselves in the midst of snow 
fields which never melt away. But here there bursts 
upon us, to the east, the Anti-Lebanon range of moun- 
tains, rising on the other side of Coele-Syria, a valley 
a few miles wide forming the continuation of the great 
Jordan fault and containing, almost at our feet, the 
marvellous ruins of Baalbek. But on descending the 
precipitous pathway we find extensive ruins, far older 
than those of Baalbek, going back even to pre-Mosaic 
times, and representing the religious culture of the 
original inhabitants of Syria and Palestine. Dusty 
and weary with our travels, we were joined at Baal- 
bek by Mrs. Wright and Mrs. George Doolittle, who, 
with her husband, w r as engaged in missionary w T ork a 
few miles aw^ay at Zahleh, at the eastern base of the 
Lebanon range. With them and Mr. Driver we spent 
two days in Damascus, when w T e returned to the Doo- 
little home, where Mrs. Wright had been entertained 
during the week of our trip to the cedars. 

We have space to note but two or three things in 
connection with this mission station. As one looks 
down upon the city from the Doolittle home, one's at- 
tention is attracted by a large number of red-tile roofs, 
which we were informed were for the most part resi- 



376 Story of My Life 

dences of Syrians who had been to America and ac- 
cumulated sufficient fortune to come home and live in 
style among their former companions. The city, also, 
like many other places in the Lebanon Mountains, is 
a favorite summer resort for Egyptian families who 
are unable to endure the monotony of the climate in 
the delta. 

A side light upon Syrian life is illustrated by an 
incident which reminds one of what we have already 
said about the robber and beggar trusts in China. 
As we were at the station at Zahleh, awaiting a train, 
a disreputable looking, one-legged man circled around 
us at a respectful distance; but, to my surprise, he 
did not stretch out his palm for baksheesh, or alms. 
The reason for his good behavior we afterwards learned 
was, that Mr. Doolittle paid him a beshlik (about 
eleven cents) a month not to beg from his friends. 
Mrs. Wright informed me that, during her stay at 
Zahleh, this one-legged beggar hobbled all the way up 
the hill, a mile long, to receive his monthly stipend. 

After leaving Beirut, the few hours we spent at 
Jaffa, on the way to Egypt, are memorable for the 
privilege we had there of meeting again my old friend 
Selah Merrill, who was still consul at Jerusalem, but 
in broken health, and was spending a few days at 
Jaffa to recuperate. We found him and his wife (an 



Third Visit to Europe ^77 

old friend of Andover days) quietly spending their 

vacation upon a housetop, surrounded with manu- 
scripts rind photographs of an extensive volume which 
he was soon to publish upon Jerusalem. From no 
other place could we have received such an impression 
of the abruptness of the escarpment of the Judean 
plateau, which rises but a few miles back from the 
sea. Beth Horon and Aijalon, where, in the midst of 
a destructive hailstorm, the sun was obscured long 
enough for Joshua to annihilate the army of the five 
Amorite kings, were near enough to enable us to distin- 
guish the promontories and mountain gorges in which 
the Amorites were entrapped. Palestine itself was 
surrounded by natural walls, far more effective for de- 
fense than those built around China by the Mongols. 
Lower Egypt must be passed with a simple refer- 
ence to the trip to Suez for the purpose of verifying 
the theory, already entertained during the previous 
visit with my son, that the place where the Children 
of Israel crossed the " Red Sea " was just to the south 
of the Bitter Lakes, from ten to twelve miles north 
of the present Gulf of Suez. More perfectly to assure 
myself of the situation, we engaged a Mohammedan 
guide, who provided a small boat to be hauled by a 
mule through the entire length of the fresh-water 
canal, to the head of the Bitter Lakes. Everything 
confirmed the theory. Here was a plain, sufficiently 



378 Story of My Life 

large to accommodate the hosts of Israel, protected by 
a narrow passage between the lakes and the desert 
plateau stretching out from Jebel Geneffeh, where 
doubtless at the time of the Exodus the land was de- 
pressed sufficiently to permit a narrow arm of the sea 
a few feet in depth, extending from the Gulf of Suez 
to the Bitter Lakes, to intervene between the Israelites 
and the Asiatic shore. The situation was one in which 
it was easy to see that the strong east wind spoken of 
in the Bible would lower the water sufficiently to per- 
mit the passage of the Israelites. So perfect is the 
conformity of the physical facts in this region to the 
conditions involved in the Biblical account, that no 
one who adequately understands them can doubt the 
truthfulness of the Bible story. 

Sailing from Alexandria, we stopped at Messina, 
sufficiently long to see enough of the city and its situa- 
tion to be especially impressed and shocked by the de- 
vastation of the earthquake that occurred soon after. 
It is needless to dwell upon incidents connected with 
our visit to Naples, Rome, and Florence, from which 
latter city, passing through Milan, we entered Switz- 
erland through the Simplon Pass, and made our way 
northward through eastern France (where now the 
horrible scenes of war are being enacted), to Calais 
without visiting Paris. Thence we went to London 



Third Visit to Europe 379 

for a few weeks' stay before returning to America for 

me to take up the regular routine ot my work. 

SCIENTIFIC CONFIRMATIONS OF OLD TESTAMENT 

HISTORY 

In 1904 I was Invited to give the Stone Lectures at 
Princeton Theological Seminary. The subject cho en 
was " Scientific Confirmations of Old Testament His- 
tory." Two years later, with the information gathered 
In my third visit to Europe, I rewrote and prepared 
them for publication. The book was issued by the 
Bibliotheca Sacra Company, in 1906. In this volume 
the general authenticity of the history found in the 
Old Testament is supported by the circumstantial evi- 
dence which is supplied by an examination of the 
physical conditions involved in a number of occur- 
rences, reported in the Old Testament, which seem 
at first sight very improbable. The object of the book 
is to show that the setting of these occurrences among 
complicated physical conditions, about which little was 
known in ancient times, but upon which modern 
science sheds a flood of light, is so perfect that the 
stories could not have been invented, nor could they 
have been materially enlarged by legendary accretions, 
as these would certainly have introduced incongruous 
elements. 

The book received cordial recognition from the hieh- 



380 Story of My Life 

est sources. A translation of it was made into Dutch, 
accompanied by a commendatory introduction by Dr. 
A. Kuyper. An edition was immediately sold in Eng- 
land, while Dr. Koenig of Bonn gave it a very favor- 
able review, and Professor George Macloskie of 
Princeton wrote in the Princeton Review, u This 
volume bids fair to be recognized as the standard 
work on the important subject of Pentateuchal phy- 
sics," while the Expository Times said, " For a long 
time to come every one who has to write upon the Del- 
uge, or touch that wider subject of the attitude of the 
Old Testament to the phenomena of nature, will re- 
quire to know what is written in this book." A third 
edition, with slight additions, was issued in 19 13, and 
the sales are continuing in undiminished numbers up to 
the present time. Like " The Ice Age in North 
America, " the volume deals so directly with facts of 
which I have personal cognizance, that there will be 
little need of modifying conclusions for a long time 
to come. 

In the publication of this book I was in danger of 
being misunderstood by both conservatives and radi- 
cals. On the one hand, there was danger that the 
conservatives would charge me with totally discredit- 
ing miracles. I was therefore much relieved to find 
so staunch a conservative as Dr. Kuyper, in his intro- 
duction to a Dutch translation, writing as follows: — 



Third Fish to Europe 381 

"It is hoped that no offense will be taken at the 
attempt of Dr. Wright to make clear the passing of 
the Jews through the Red Sea, and through the Jor- 
dan, by invoking the aid of irregular operations of 
nature. The belief in God's wonderful might does 
not require that in explanation of the wonders we 
should exclude the operations of nature which would 
have taken place in any event. 

11 When I say that, even if Ahab and Elijah had 
not existed, a fire would still have fallen down at the 
same moment and on the same place where Elijah's 
sacrifice was offered, I do not say that it was not a 
wonder. The objective as well as the subjective won- 
der exists. The objective wonder is the falling down 
of the fire just on the same place and at the same mo- 
ment of the historical event. The subjective w T onder 
is that Elijah without knowing anything of the posi- 
tion of affairs in nature dared supplicate for it and had 
faith to believe that the fire would come. 

11 In this way Dr. Wright writes about some of the 
great wonders in the history of Israel. I dare not say 
that he always has taken the right view of what hap- 
pened, but even if in a single instance he might be 
mistaken I still praise his endeavors to connect won- 
ders in the history with the course of the operations 
of nature. That his own belief in the wonders does 
not waver, he states on more than one page." 



382 Story of My Life 

Prominent among the miracles which I specially 
treated in these lectures are the crossing of the Red 
Sea, the parting of Jordan, the destruction of Sodom 
and Gomorrah, and the Noachian Deluge, which is 
thought to be connected with the changes of land level 
accompanying the Glacial epoch. In all these cas°s 
and in many more which might be considered, the 
phenomena are those connected with the specia] di- 
rection of secondary causes. The events are narrated 
in a direct historical manner. To the historian, the 
question is not whether they are miraculous but 
whether the narratives are true. The agency of the 
divine element is a subsidiary question; but the divine 
agency is by no means ruled out by the discovery of 
the means through which God accomplishes his de- 
sign. The famous law of parsimony may be used in 
interpreting divine actions even better than in inter- 
preting human actions. This law, known from the 
fourteenth century as Occam's razor, is variously 
stated. Its essence is contained in the following ex- 
pressions: " Assign no other causes than suffice to 
account for the phenomena." " Nature knows no 
waste." All that is necessary to constitute a miracle 
is, to show that the use of secondary causes is on such 
a scale and of such a character as clearly to reveal a 
power over nature which is nothing less than divine. 
With reference to the wind which, according to the 



Third Visit to Europe 383 

Bible account, w as the secondary cause of opening the 
Red Sea before the advancing hosts of Israel and clos- 
ing its waters to the pursuing Egyptian army, we do 
not necessarily suppose, in order to make the event mir- 
aculous, that they were produced out of the ordinary 
course of nature, though such a supposition is by no 
means absurd. It is as easy for the Lord to produce a 
hurricane as it is for a housewife to produce a wind 
sufficient to blow the dust from her mantel. God is 
no less a free agent in the use of nature's forces than 
is man. Man, certainly, does in innumerable ways 
make new combinations, producing effects which were 
not originally incorporated in the forces of nature. 

In 1907, according to the rules of the college, I was 
placed upon the retired list and given the Carnegie 
Pension, which, though much less than my regular 
salary had been, was sufficient to give me reasonable 
support, and allow me to devote my attention to the 
completion of my literary plans. The first th'ng 
undertaken was the preparation of a fifth edition of 
the " Ice Age in North America." The task of such 
a work will be better appreciated by referring again 
to the fact, that thirty closely printed pages were re- 
quired to simply enumerate the articles which had 
appeared in scientific journals since the first edition 
was published. 



384 Story of My Life 



CHAPTER XIII 

FOURTH VISIT TO EUROPE 

The autumn and winter of 1907 and 1908 were 
spent in another visit to Europe, in which, landing at 
Antwerp, we reveled for a week amid the art treas- 
ures of that interesting city, and then visited Holland 
and Brussels, from which trips were made on the one 
hand to Bruges and on the other to Waterloo. Thence 
we went to Paris, where, among other privileges, was 
that of meeting Salomon Reinach in the great museum, 
of which he is the director, in Saint-Germain-en-Laye 
and discussing with him the character and age of the 
palaeolithic implements found in northern France. 
By him I was given an introduction to M. Commont, 
principal of the schools in Amiens, whose collection oi 
palaeoliths from the gravels of that vicinity is larger 
than that of all others put together. So carefully has 
he made his collection, that he is able to classify them 
into lower and higher, according to their occurrence 
in different elevations of the bank, and to compare 
their relative stages of culture. His publications upon 
the subject are of the highest value. It was a privilege 
to visit again the gravel pits of this celebrated locality, 



Fourth Visit to Europe 385 

• 
under the guidance of such an authority, and at the 
same time it was a surprise to see the extent to which 
the gravels had been excavated without exhausting the 
supply of palaeoliths. Still, in view of the facts about 
the rapid accumulation of river gravel during the ex- 
ceptional conditions of the Glacial epoch, one may well 
hesitate to assign them to the extreme antiquity de- 
manded by many of the European archaeologists. The 
question of age will be found discussed in my later 
volume " Origin and Antiquity of Man," to which 
the reader is referred. 

One object which I kept in view was to visit the 
localities in northern France and southern England 
where Professor Joseph Prestwich (one of the ablest 
geologists and most painstaking observers of England) 
supposed that he had found evidence of an extensive 
but brief subsidence of the region, followed by a sud- 
den emergence of the land from the water, producing 
the deposits referred to as " rubble drift " or "head." 
The classic localities for the study of these deposits 
are Sangatte, France, a few miles west of Calais, and 
Brighton, England, on the opposite side of the Chan- 
nel. These places I visited, and studied with consid- 
erable care, not with the expectation that I could add 
anything to the very careful descriptions given by Pro- 
fessor Prestwich, but to see with my own eyes these 



386 Story of My Life 

remarkable and puzzling phenomena upon which he 
has based his startling inferences. As clearly and 
briefly as I can state the facts they are as follows: 

Both at Sangatte and at Brighton, there appears, 
ten to fifteen feet above the present sea level, an ele- 
vated beach consisting of a stratum of well-worn peb- 
bles. But overlying this beach there is a deposit of 
coarse, irregularly stratified material, with a thickness 
at Sangatte of forty feet and at Brighton of fully eighty 
feet. This is what is called rubble drift. Near the 
base of this rubble drift, on both sides of the Channel, 
there have been found a few palaeolithic implements, 
and numerous mammalian remains characteristic of 
Post-Tertiary time, among them those of species of 
elephant, rhinoceros, reindeer, hippopotamus, horse, 
hog, and ox. 

This rubble drift is evidently not a deposit of run- 
ning water, but shows clear marks, in some places, of 
rapid and tumultuous accumulation, while in other 
places there is seen the fine lamination produced by 
tranquil water action and deposition. Both at San- 
gatte and Brighton large blocks of rock with angles 
but slightly worn appear at irregular intervals in the 
drift. One of these at Brighton, measured by Pro- 
fessor Prestwich, was 8 by 2 by 2 feet. The material 
in this rubble drift is all of local origin, and is de- 
rived from the immediate vicinity. At Sangatte, the 



Fourth Visit to Europe 387 

highland from which the material in the rubble drift 
had been derived lies to the south and west, while in 
Brighton the highland furnishing the material lies to 
the north and east. This would make it difficult to 
explain as a glacial deposit, as some have surmised. 
Furthermore, no scratched stones have been observed 
in it. In many other localities in which Professor 
Prestwich has found the same class of deposits, it is 
found to be distributed in all directions from a central 
elevation, but not in deltas, as would be the case if 
it were deposited by a running stream of water. In 
the Jersey Islands, which I also visited, this drift 
had been carried over a very low gradient, a long 
distance from its source. 

Thus it will be seen that these facts present a very 
puzzling problem. After eliminating all other causes, 
as insufficient to account for all the phenomena, Pro- 
fessor Prestwich presents what he believes is the only 
sufficient explanation. He believes that all the phe- 
nomena can be accounted for only by supposing that 
after a continental subsidence which had submerged 
the region to the extent of several hundred feet, the 
land was suddenly reelevated by a series of violent 
earthquake shocks, like that which brought the tidal 
wave into Lisbon in 1755, or like that in San Fran- 
cisco, in which the instantaneous vertical movement 
was ten feet, or that on the Alaskan coast in 1899, 



388 Story of My Life 

where the paroxysmal elevation was from thirty to 
forty feet. Such a series of sudden elevations would 
be sufficient to produce a current, in all directions from 
the higher elevations, of sufficient force and character 
to account for all the facts. I have been unable to de- 
tect any flaw in Prestwich's reasoning, and have 
ventured to introduce it as part of the evidence in sup- 
port of a postglacial deluge causing widespread de- 
struction both of man and animals throughout western 
Europe, and so indirectly supporting the story of the 
Deluge as told in the Bible. 1 

While in England during the winter following, 
numerous opportunities were afforded to lecture upon 
the archaeological relations of the Glacial epoch. The 
most of these were delivered in London, where, also, 
a paper was read before the Geological Society. One 
invitation, also, came from Cambridge, where I was 
cordially received by Professors Hughes and Marr, 
and where I had the opportunity of meeting the Lewis 
sisters, whose discovery of the early Syrian manuscript 
of the New Testament on Mount Sinai created such 
a sensation in the scholarly world, and of the results 
of which I had made considerable use in my lectures 
on the " Scientific Aspects of Christian Evidences. '' 
But at Cardiff, in the lecture which I gave before the 
Natural History Society, including most of the Uni- 



Fourth Visit to Europe 

versity professors, I was able to put in shape a theory 

which had been cherished ever since my visit to Cen- 
tral Asia. This, which I have already partially out- 
lined, was that the influence of the Glacial epoch in 
Central Asia was the predominant factor both in de- 
veloping and in dispersing the human race. It was 
during the climax of the Glacial epoch that condi- 
tions were most favorable to life in the vast oases of 
Central Asia, irrigated by the streams which came 
down from the glacier-covered mountain masses of the 
region; while it was the elevation of land all over the 
Northern Hemisphere at that time which favored the 
dispersion both of man and of the animals originating 
with him in the same region. At the same time, dur- 
ing the closing stages of the Glacial epoch, while the 
habitable oases of Central Asia w r ere rapidly contract- 
ing by reason of the diminished w r ater supply, the fair- 
est fields of Europe, which had been overborne by 
glacial ice, were being relieved of their glacial en- 
velope and were inviting that westward movement of 
population which is even now going on into the gla- 
ciated areas of the United States and Canada. 

On returning to America, I set to work at the task 
of rewriting in the light of all subsequent observations 
the Low T ell Institute Lectures on the " Orig'n and 
Antiquity of Man," which I had given in Boston 



390 Story of My Life 

twenty years before. A portion of these lectures had 
been enlarged and embodied in " Alan and the Glacial 
Period, " published in 1892 in the International Scien- 
tific Series. But in " Origin and Antiquity of Man " 
I endeavored to present and properly estimate the evi- 
dence coming from every quarter, treating in successive 
chapters of Methods of Scientific Approach; the His- 
torical Evidence; the Linguistic Argument; Origin of 
the Races of Europe; Origin and Antiquity of the 
American Indian; Significance of the Glacial Epoch; 
Man in the Glacial Epoch; Man and the Lava Beds 
of the Pacific Coast; Remains of Glacial Man in Eu- 
rope; Supposed Evidence of Tertiary Man; Glacial 
Man in Central Asia; the Physiological Argument; 
the Psychological Argument; the Biblical Scheme; 
Summary and Conclusion, in which emphasis is laid 
upon the fact, that the theory of evolution by a uni- 
form and gradual process is contradicted by innumer- 
able facts and cannot be made a basis for estimating 
the length either of geologic or of historic time. So 
far as we have evidence, palaeolithic man had a brain 
equal in size to that of modern man, while the intel- 
lectual qualities which he displayed v ere such as com- 
pare favorably with those which modern man possesses. 
Evidence, which it is well-nigh criminal for anyone 
now to neglect, is adduced concerning the recency of 
the Glacial . epoch and the abnormal conditions con- 



Fourth I ''is if to Europe 391 

nected with it, which render of no value the arguments 
tor the extreme antiquity of man asserted by many 

who assume to be authorities upon the subject. The 
changes in the glaciers of Alaska during the last thirty 
years are greater than those in the glaciers of the Alps, 
which German authorities assume to require 15,000 
years and proceed to make the basis of their chron- 
ology; while Baron de Geer and Professor Hoist have 
demonstrated that glacial ice did not disappear from 
southern Sweden until about 7,000 years ago. 



392 Story of My Life 



CHAPTER XIV 



EDITORIAL WORK 



Among the important responsibilities which Provi- 
dence has thrown upon me, is the editorial work con- 
nected with the Bibliotheca Sacra and the Records of 
the Past. Professor Edwards A. Park of Andover 
was known to say that the two things in which his 
success in life was most evident were the editing of 
the Bibliotheca Sacra and the Sabbath Hymnbook. 
In 1844 the Bibliotheca Sacra was founded in An- 
dover, Massachusetts, under the editorship of Profes- 
sors Bela B. Edwards and Edwards A. Park, with 
the special cooperation of Dr. Edward Robinson and 
Professor Moses Stuart. Professor Park continued 
as its principal editor until the close of its fortieth 
volume in 1883, since which I have been its leading 
editor. Thus this Quarterly has had a longer con- 
tinued existence than any other in America. From 
the beginning the aim of the editors has been to publish 
articles of permanent value only, and by following 
this policy it has become one of the most important 
repositories of theological material in existence. 

The circumstances which threw upon me a leading 



Editorial Work 393 

part In the perpetuation of the Quarterly arc of suf- 
ficient interest to warrant a somewhat detailed state- 
ment of facts. As already said, I had become, soon 
after settling in Andover, a prominent contributor to 
its pages. For the most part my contributions during 
this period were related to the theological questions 
raised by the prevalence of Darwinism. Soon after 
my removal to Oberlin in 1881 occurred the great 
theological convulsion at Andover known as the " New 
Departure," the essence of which was that some of 
the professors claimed the right of holding their posi- 
tions and keeping their salaries while teaching doc- 
trines that w T ere in positive contradiction to the creed 
which they specifically signed on entering, and re-signed 
thereafter every five years. The specific point which 
came before the public was that of the future probation 
of the heathen, a doctrine w T hich was categorically 
denied in the Andover Creed. And here it should be 
noted that the signatories to the Andover Creed w T ere 
not let off like those to the Westminster Confession, 
by assenting to it for " substance of doctrine," but 
prefixed every section of the Creed with, " I believe." 
Soon after the outbreak of this revolution, Profes- 
sors Henry M. Thayer and Charles M. Mead resigned 
their chairs rather than be implicated in the mani- 
fest dishonesty. The remaining members of the revo- 
lutionary party proposed the publication of an organ 



394 Story of My Life 

called the Andover Review, Without consulting with 
the editor, Professor Park, or Mr. Draper, the pub- 
lisher, they proceeded to advertise their review ex- 
tensively, and in due time launched it upon the public, 
evidently expecting that it would undermine the 
Bibliotheca Sacra so that its subscription list would 
fall into their hands. But their expectations were not 
realized. On the contrary, the result was that in 
1883, at the beginning of the forty-first volume, the 
Bibliotheca Sacra was removed to Oberlin to be con- 
ducted by an editorial board consisting of G. Frederick 
Wright, Judson Smith, and W. G. Ballantine with 
" Edwards A. Park, W. M. Barbour, E. C. Bissell, 
F. B. Denio, C. F. Thwing, D. W. Simon, and 
Archibald Duff Associate Editors." I had for two 
years already been one of the associate editors. The 
outcome of it all was, that after three or four years 
the Andover Review was discontinued, while Biblio- 
theca Sacra has continued, up to the present time, to 
command a constituency sufficient for its support with- 
out the aid of any endowment or subsidy. 

1 

While the editorial staff has changed more or less 

from time to time, I have been the one who has suc- 
ceeded in giving the magazine its continuity. When 
Judson Smith was appointed secretary of the American 
Board, his removal from Oberlin and assumption of 



Editorial Work 395 

other duties naturally led to his resignation. Profes- 
sor Frank H. Foster, Professor Smith's successor in 

the chair of Church History, naturally took his place 
on the editorial staff. Some years later, when Pro- 
fessor Ballantine was elected President of Oberlin 
College, and Professor Foster was called to Pacific 
Theological Seminary, they both resigned ; and Mr. 
Z. Swift Holbrook, at once an enterprising business 
man, a sound theologian, and an ardent promoter of 
sensible views of Christian sociology, joined me in the 
purchase of the magazine from Mr. E. J. Goodrich, 
the former Oberlin publisher. Mr. Holbrook's busi- 
ness ability gave a new impulse to the publication, 
which it has felt ever since. But on his removal by 
death the whole responsibility fell on me, and since 
1900 I have been the sole responsible editor. Various 
efforts were made at different times to induce me to 
consent to a popularization of the magazine. At one 
time it was proposed to make it an organ of Oberlin 
affairs. At other times it was proposed to make it a 
monthly, and to give it a more popular character; but 
fortunately I have been able successfully to resist these 
shortsighted plans, and have kept it to its original pur- 
pose of publishing only, or at least mainly, thorough 
discussions of fundamental themes which would be of 
permanent value. The result has been that Biblio- 
theca Sacra has maintained a cosmopolitan character, 



396 Story of My Life 

both in its circulation and its contributors, more fully 
than any other American publication has done. It is 
bound and indexed in all the leading libraries of the 
world, and hence has become a favorite channel for 
writers of eminence, who had something important to 
say to the leaders of thought in all centers of influ- 
ence. 

I should not fail to mention the inestimable services 
rendered by Miss Annie S. Davis, a member of my 
church in Andover and a graduate of the Salem Nor- 
mal School, who, forced by ill health to abandon her 
chosen profession, had temporarily served an appren- 
ticeship in the printing office of Warren F. Draper, 
the publisher of Bibliotheca Sacra. When the maga- 
zine was brought to Oberlin she was induced to come 
to take charge of the details of keeping the books, pre- 
paring the manuscript for the printers, and being re- 
sponsible for the proof reading. This she has done 
now for more than thirty years, to the satisfaction of 
all parties concerned, relieving the editor and publisher 
from the burdensome w r ork connected -with the details. 

While I have continued to write largely 'for the 
magazine, both over my own name and in unsigned 
critical notes and book reviews, my chief work in con- 
nection with it has been to draw and direct to its 
pages articles from competent scholars, supporting, in 
the main, the evangelical system of church doctrines. 



Editorial Work 397 

Marked success has attended this effort. Archaeology 
has been treated by Professor M. ( i. Kyle, recognized 
as an authority on the archaeology of Egypt the world 

over; the authority of Scripture by Dr. Huizinga and 
Professor Estes of Colgate University; the Babel- 
Bible controversy by Dr. Notz; the influence of the 
Bible on intellect, conscience, scholarship, criticism, and 
science by Rankin, Stimson, Kuyper, and Hitchcock; 
the relations of the body to man's spiritual nature by 
Boardman, Goddard, and Bixby; the land and people 
of the Bible by Curtiss and Beecher; the diseases of 
the Bible and the plagues of Egypt by Dr. Merrins; 
the nature, character, and work of Christ by Hillis, 
Keen, Wright, Merrins, Howland, Burton, Mc- 
Laughlin, Thomson, Wendell, Crannell, Sewall, 
Shaw, Boardman, Hutchins, Weston, Fairfield, Met- 
calf, Thwing, Gardiner, and Magoun ; on creation 
and modern science by Warring, Magoun, Howland, 
Cooper, Gulick, and Wright; on the Deluge by 
Prestvvich, Adams, Bishop, Whitney, Magoun, Res- 
telle, and Wright; demoniacal possession by Mer- 
. rins; evolution by Wright, Simon, Mackenzie, 
Thurston, Reeve, Hawkins, and Campbell ; freedom 
of the will, Foster, Wright, Potwin, and Howland; 
higher criticism, Hayman, Wright, Wiener, Kuyper, 
Lamb, Dewart, and Griffiths; inspiration by Wright, 
Foster, Bartlett, and Jarrel ; Isaiah by Caverno, Lias, 



398 Story of My Life 

and Osgood ; John's Gospel, Ferguson, Rishell, Lias, 
Juel; Jonah by Macloskie; man, origin and antiquity 
of, Upham, Wright, Miss Owen, Macloskie; miracle 
by Wright, Blake, Warring, Greene, and Lamb; 
Paul's life and work by Foster, Gilbert, Bosworth, 
Marsh, Merrins, and Williams; Pentateuch by Ha- 
man, Wiener, Potwin, Bartlett, Barton, Dahse, Aald- 
ers, Koenig, Troelstra, and Noordtzij ; philosophy by 
Lindsay, Campbell, and Neighbor; theism by Morton, 
Bascom, Gardiner, and Wright; textual criticism by 
Hoskier, Buchanan, and Wiener; Wellhausen school 
by Wiener and Margoliouth. This partial list of sub- 
jects with their authors gives but a faint idea of the 
whole collection of material found in the pages of the 
Quarterly. 

It is difficult to estimate the influence exerted by 
such a publication as Bibliotheca Sacra. To judge of 
it correctly one must take a long look. For the last 
quarter of a century it has been defending those doc- 
trines of theism, of the Bible, and of theology in gen- 
eral, which have been commonly believed through all 
the Christian centuries, and which have served to give 
continuity to the Christian Church. Since the be- 
ginning of the nineteenth century this system of truth 
has been largely supplanted by a materialistic form of 
evolution, which has taken possession of many of the 



Editorial Work 399 

S oi learning and influence and to a Large extent 
is permeating the centers of scientific thought, while 
a monistic theory of the universe, equally destructive 
with pantheism of the true theistic view, is to a la- 
mentable extent controlling many centers of theologi- 
cal thought. In eliminating the idea of second causes 
and referring everything to the direct activity of God, 
the prevalent doctrine of divine immanence is under- 
mining the whole Christian system, by relieving man 
from the responsibility of sin, charging it upon the 
Creator himself; and by obliterating the whole dis- 
tinction between natural and supernatural, and refer- 
ring everything to the direct action of God, is destroy- 
ing the whole conception of miracles, since it renders 
everything miraculous. 

In the controversy that has been going on, it is of 
course impossible to single out any one cause as having 
been predominant in controlling public opinion ; but it 
can be said in truth that the theistic view of the uni- 
verse, as outlined and defended in the articles of Biblio- 
theca Sacra prepared by me while in close conference 
with Professor Park and Asa Gray and published 
more than thirty years ago and repeatedly supported 
by articles in later years written by various scholarly 
authorities, is that which both the scientific and the 
theological world are again coming more and more to 



400 Story of My Life 

entertain ; while, in the defense of the Mosaic author- 
ship of the Pentateuch, and in getting back to the 
original text of the New Testament, the influence of 
Bibliolheca Sacra has been phenomenal. 

To this end the work of Harold M. Wiener and 
E. S. Buchanan have contributed most largely; and 
the way in which both these scholars have been led in 
their investigations, and to the choice of Bibliolheca 
Sacra as the main channel through which to reach the 
public, deserves a brief record. 

Harold M. Wiener is an orthodox Jew, between 
thirty and forty years of age, who was graduated from 
Cambridge University (England) with highest honors 
several years ago, and who distinguished his gradua- 
tion by publishing an important volume entitled 
" Studies in Biblical Law." In due time he was ad- 
mitted to the bar, and became an active barrister, with 
his office in Lincoln's Inn, London. Soon after, Dean 
Wace, of Canterbury, pressed upon the attention of 
a leading Jewish rabbi of London the duty of the Jews 
to come to the defense of their hero, Moses. " Why," 
he pointedly asked, " should you leave the defense of 
your hero to the Christians?" The challenge was 
taken up by Mr. Wiener, who, above all other men, 
had the all-round preparation for undertaking the task. 
He is a lawyer, and so is qualified to consider a legal 



Editorial Work 401 

document such as the Pentateuch is. He is a faithful 
Jew, and knows the Jewish literature by heart. He 
has command of all the languages necessary to obtain 
the facts shedding light upon the subject. Profoundly 
impressed with the truth of his cause, Mr. Wiener 
has entered the field, and has already accomplished 
striking results. 

He has shown in the first place, that the higher 
critics have neglected textual criticism, and that if the 
text is restored to its probable condition before the 
Septuagintal translation almost all the contentions of 
the higher critics fall to the ground. 

Secondly, he has shown that the higher critics, not 
being lawyers, have introduced inextricable confusion 
by not distinguishing between legal terms and not dis- 
cerning the processes by which laws come into opera- 
tion. The whole of the Priestly Code is what the 
lawyers w T ould call " procedure, " which, instead of be- 
ing relegated to Ezekiel's time, almost necessarily 
came into existence with the first promulgation of the 
law. 

Thirdly, the higher critics have not distinguished 
between an " altar of sacrifice " and a " sanctuary," 
and thus have made confusion worse confounded in 
their reasonings. Other errors are pointed out too 
numerous to mention. 

Rev. E. S. Buchanan is an Oxford scholar, who at 



402 Story of My Life 

the beginning of his career was taken under the tute- 
lage of Bishop Wordsworth of Salisbury, who in his 
lifetime was the ablest exponent of the importance of 
the Old Latin manuscripts of the New Testament. 
At the instigation of the Bishop, Buchanan has devoted 
his life to the prosecution of investigations concerning 
these manuscripts. In preparation for his work he 
visited the chief libraries in Europe, where the earliest 
manuscripts of the New Testament both in Greek and 
in translation were contained, and studied them with 
painstaking care. He then began the editing and 
translating of the numerous Latin translations of the 
New Testament which had been found in out-of-the- 
way places in Ireland. Before this work had pro- 
ceeded very far, it became evident that these represen- 
tatives of the text of the New Testament were two or 
three hundred years nearer the original than that which 
is found in the received Greek text, from which our 
English version was made, or the Sinaitic and Vatican 
texts, which Westcott and Hort accepted as practically 
infallible where they agreed. It appears that these 
Greek texts are in practical agreement with that fol- 
lowed by Jerome when he made the Vulgate transla- 
tion in 382 A.D. 

But that the very earliest Latin versions of the New 
Testament were likely to be found in Spain, France, 



Editorial Work 403 

and Ireland, on the west coast of Europe, was made 
probable from the fact that Paul in Romans (xv. 24, 
28) twice intimated that he expected to visit Spain. 
This would indicate that there was a well-known 
body of Roman emigrants, consisting of soldiers and 
commercial men, to whom he hoped to carry the gos- 
pel in the middle of the first century. This inference 
is also supported by the fact that at this time Rome had 
more commercial intercourse with Spain than it had 
with Greece. As illustrating the adage, It never rains 
but it pours, Mr. Buchanan's attention w^as later 
drawn to a most remarkable Spanish manuscript, 
which Mr. J. P. Morgan bought for a large sum 
($30,000) in 1910. What attracted Mr. Morgan 
was the size and beauty of the work. It was a large 
folio containing 184 leaves of thick vellum, each leaf 
measuring 21 inches by 14 inches; its binding was 
elaborate; and it contained no richly colored minia- 
tures. The manuscript was the w T ork of a Spanish 
Presbyter named Beatus; and the work was written 
in the latter part of the eighth century, and in sub- 
stance is a commentary upon the Apocalypse and the 
book of Daniel, containing innumerable quotations 
from the New Testament. On examining the text, 
Mr. Buchanan found that in numerous places the 
original readings of New Testament texts had been 
erased and the Vulgate reading written over them. 



404 Story of My Life 

His task was to recover these original readings, and 
in this he has developed remarkable skill. The original 
readings, thus reproduced, were of the greatest inter- 
est and importance. From his investigations it ap- 
peared that the Vulgate readings superimposed upon 
the original, very uniformly magnified the ecclesiasti- 
cal pretensions of the church authorities, to the depre- 
ciation of the purer spiritual teachings of the erased 
texts. For example, the passage in Matthew xvi. 18, 
19, which in our received text reads, " Thou art 
Peter; and upon this rock will I build my church; 
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And 
I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of 
heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, shall 
be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose 
on earth, shall be loosed in heaven," appears in the 
Spanish text without any reference to Peter, or the 
Church, or to the keys, but reads simply, " On this rock 
shall be built up by the Holy Spirit his disciples." 
And instead of the binding on earth and the loosing 
in heaven being given as the prerogative of the Church, 
it is in this text given as the prerogative of the Holy 
Spirit. And so in a large number of cases it is evi- 
dent that the original text of Beatus had been erased, 
and the Vulgate text inserted, in the interest of the 
ecclesiastical pretensions of the Church authorities. 
Scarcely had the work of translating and editing 



torial Work 405 

the Beatus Manuscript been completed, when Mr. 
Buchanan's attention was directed to the Old Spanish 

manuscripts which Mr. Archer M. Huntington was 
gathering in his Hispanic Museum in New York City. 
Almost immediately his eye fell upon a Latin transla- 
tion of the New Testament, which was made in Spain 
in the twelfth century, but which originally contained 
practically the same readings which had been erased 
in the Beatus Manuscript and written over with the 
Vulgate text. Matthew xvi. 18, 19 was originally 
the same as in the Beatus Manuscript, and like it had 
been made to conform to the Vulgate text, which in- 
troduced the reference to Peter, the Church, and the 
keys. Pretty uniformly, also, this text, like that of 
Beatus, contained readings which magnified the w^ork 
of the Holy Spirit to the depreciation of the ecclesias- 
tical authorities. 

The significant thing in regard to these discoveries 
is that they support the readings peculiar to what was 
called the " Western Text," wdiich Westcott and Hort 
treated as of little critical worth. But the value of 
these readings is confirmed in a remarkable manner 
by the discovery, in Egypt, of a Greek manuscript 
older than the Sinaitic and Vatican, w T hich was pur- 
chased by Mr. Freer of Detroit, and which has been 
edited and published by Professor Sanders of Ann 
Arbor. This manuscript, which Mr. Freer has de- 



406 Story of My Life 

posited in Washington and has insisted should be 
called the " Washingtonian Manuscript," is recognized 
on all hands as of the greatest importance in determin- 
ing the original Greek text of the New Testament; 
and it, too, in general supports the readings of the 
Western Text. 

That Mr. Buchanan, like Mr. Wiener, should have 
chosen Bibliotheca Sacra as the best channel through 
which to reach the scholarly public interested in de- 
termining the original text of the Bible, is a striking 
witness to the importance of my influence in keeping 
the Quarterly up to its original scholarly standard. On 
consulting the back numbers, it appeared that Dr. H. 
C. Hoskier, the highest authority on the Genesis of 
the Versions of the New Testament, had also chosen 
Bibliotheca Sacra as his favorite channel through 
which to reach the scholarly public interested in this 
most important work; and that, at his request, Mr. 
Buchanan, as far back as 191 1, had published a 
lengthy review of Dr. Hoskier's volumes " Concern- 
ing the Genesis of the Versions of the New Testa- 
ment " ; hence his appearance as a contributor in the 
recent volumes was not the result of a sudden after- 
thought, but of a matured conviction based on solid 
evidence; 

Soon after returning from my trip to Asia, I joined 



Editorial Work 407 

with some others, including my son, Frederick Bennett 
Wright, in establishing at Washington the Records 
of the Past, a highly illustrated, beautifully printed 
monthly, in quarto form, designed to bring before the 
public the most important facts brought out by ar- 
chaeological excavations and studies the world over. 
Later it was issued bi-monthly and so continued for 
twelve years, when an elaborate index both of the 
articles and the illustrations was published, and the 
magazine was absorbed by Art and Archaology, pub- 
lished by the Archaeological Institute of America, and 
covering nearly the same ground. While my son was 
the managing editor, I cooperated with him to bring 
the magazine up to a high standard. In this we suc- 
ceeded fairly well, so that the twelve bound volumes, 
as they are scattered widely both in public and private 
libraries, constitute a storehouse of archaeological in- 
formation, which is of the greatest value, not only for 
imparting general information but incidentally in em- 
phasizing the archaeological facts which support the 
credibility of the Bible. 



4o8 Story of My Life 



CHAPTER XV 

ARCH/EOLOGICAL AND PROFESSORIAL WORK 

Not the least enjoyable and important work in which 
I have been engaged is that connected with the Ohio 
State Archaeological and Historical Society, which was 
organized in 1885, and of which I was elected presi- 
dent in 1907, following an eminent list of predecessors, 
namely, Rutherford B. Hayes, Allen G. Thurman, 
Francis C. Sessions, and Roeliff Brinkerhoff. My in- 
terest in the archaeology of the State was greatly in- 
creased during my survey of the glacial boundary, 
which led me through many sections containing pre- 
historic mounds and earthworks. Later, I took oc- 
casion to make a tour of the State in company with 
Judge C. C. Baldwin, for the purpose of visiting all 
the most important localities in Ohio where these pre- 
historic works were to be found. This was before 
any systematic attempt had been made by the State 
to preserve them. When in England, my interest was 
stimulated further by a visit to the Blackmore Museum 
in Salisbury, which then contained the most important 
collection in existence of the relics of the mound 
builders in Ohio. This of course was very humiliat- 
ing to American archaeologists, especially those of Ohio. 



Archaeological and Profes orial Work 409 

The way it came about that such a collection should 
be there was on this wise: About 1840, Squier and 
Davis made an extensive survey of the mounds in the 
Mississippi Valley, partially excavating them, and 
making a very rich collection of relics. The account 
of their work formed the first Smithsonian report, en- 
titled the " Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi 
Valley." But their collection of relics was not suf- 
ficiently appreciated, either in Ohio or in the United 
States, to be purchased and preserved for inspection in 
any museum here. Mr. and Mrs. Blackmore from 
England, however, so fully appreciated the collection, 
that they purchased it entire, and made room for it 
in the Blackmore Museum in Salisbury, w T here for 
some decades American students were compelled to go 
to study the archaeology of their own country. A 
large number of the articles in this collection were 
never duplicated in any American museum until 1915, 
when discoveries were made which put us on an equal- 
ity with England, in the possession of mound builders' 
relics. Of this we will speak later. 

Meamvhile parties outside the State, to our shame, 
were much more interested in exploring the mounds 
of Ohio than were the citizens of the State. The 
Smithsonian Institution at Washington was continu- 
ally making sporadic collections of mound builders' 
relics, while the Peabody Museum at Cambridge, un- 



410 Story of My Life 

der the judicious management of Professor F. W. 
Putnam, was systematically exploring some of the most 
important sites of the mound builders and taking the 
collection to Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 1893, 
the promoters of the Columbian Exposition in Chi- 
cago put several thousand dollars into the hands of 
Warren K. Moorehead to explore one of the Ohio 
mounds, which yielded an immense number of relics, 
all of which were taken to Chicago, and remain in the 
possession of the Field Columbian Museum. At the 
same time, "public-spirited ladies of Boston raised sev- 
eral thousand dollars to purchase the farm in Adams 
County on which was situated the famous Serpent 
Mound, and to enable Professor Putnam thoroughly 
to explore it and restore it to its original condition. 
For many years w T e found it impossible to arouse the 
legislature to such interest in our work as would in- 
duce them to provide us with adequate means for car- 
rying on our explorations effectively and systematically, 
and, what w T as equally important, to provide facilities 
for displaying the results of our explorations. 

But at length, after more than twenty years, public 
interest was thoroughly aroused ; and the results have 
been all that we could expect, and almost all that we 
could ask. Although it seemed at first that we had 
but the gleanings of the field, the systematic work of 



Archaological and Professorial Work 411 

our curator, William C. Mills, has shown that this 
was not the case, for we have secured results exceeding 
those of all other investigators combined. From the 
mounds in the vicinity of Chillicothe, collections have 
been made of implements and ornaments of argillite 
from the Rocky Mountains, of copper from Lake Su- 
perior, of mica from North Carolina, and of shells 
from the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, thus 
indicating a prehistoric commerce as wide as the con- 
tinent. In one of these mounds was found a collection 
of fresh-water pearls, which experts said would be 
worth $10,000 if they were fresh. But still more 
interesting was the collection of counterfeit pearls, 
which consisted of clay balls covered with malleable 
mica giving the appearance of real pearls. In 191 5, 
Mr. Mills explored what had been thought to be an 
effigy mound, representing an elephant, in the vicinity 
of Portsmouth, Ohio, but which has proved to be a 
vast crematory, at one end of which was unbared the 
surface where the bodies were burned, while adjoining 
it was a broad depression filled with bones and ashes 
resulting from the fires, and still beyond was an im- 
mense collection of broken pipes and other exquisitely 
carved ornaments, which more than duplicated the 
unique collection which we had been accustomed to 
make pilgrimages to Salisbury, England, to study. 
As our Society grew 7 in influence its opportunities 



412 Story of My Life 

rapidly increased. The State purchased for us Fort 
Ancient, in the valley of the Little Miami, in Warren 
County, the largest and rr.ost elaborate earthwork on 
the American continent. The Serpent Mound in 
Adams County was given to us by Harvard Univer- 
sity, who had come into possession of it. Various other 
historic sites have been given to- us for preservation, 
including the famous elm tree under which the Indian 
Chief, Logan, made the speech that has been so widely 
copied in school readers; and last of all Spiegel Grove 
in Fremont, a plot of twenty-five acres of the original 
forest, in which President Rutherford B. Hayes had 
built his residence, w T as given to us by his son Colonel 
Webb C. Hayes, on condition that the State would 
build a fireproof building to hold his father's library, 
consisting of the most complete collection of Ameri- 
cana in existence, and of the accumulation of docu- 
ments connected with his father's military and political 
career as governor of the State and president of the 
United States. Such a building, costing $50,000, was 
provided for by appropriations from the legislature in 
191 1, and at the same time $100,000 was appropriated 
for a building in Columbus, in which we could dis- 
play our general collections. These two buildings are 
now completed, and form attractions of the greatest 
interest to the State and the country. It is difficult 
to overestimate their educational value. In doing my 



Archaological and Professorial Work 413 

small share in bringing about these results, my associa- 
tion with men of like mind, from different parts of 
the State, has furnished one of the joys of my life, 
bringing me into contact, as it has, with a body of 
men keenly interested in promoting the higher ideal 
interests of the people, and men whose gratuitous serv- 
ices place them above the suspicion of having any per- 
sonal interest to serve. The names of them all are 
too numerous to mention. But among the most con- 
spicuous are the following: Mr. Roeliff Brinkerhoff, 
Mr. George F. Bareis, the late Mr. C. H. Gallup, 
General J. Warren Keifer, Dr. Walter C. Metz, 
Mr. E. F. Wood, the late Mr. A. J. Baughman, 
William C. Mills, Honorable D. J. Ryan, Mr. L. P. 
Schaus, Rev. H. A. Thompson, Mr. H. E. Buck, 
Colonel Webb C. Hayes, President W. O. Thomp- 
son, Honorable F. W. Tread way, Rev. N. B. C. 
Love, the late Honorable J. W. Harper, Honorable 
Myron T. Herrick, Professor M. R. Andrews, Pro- 
fessor B. F. Prince, Mr. E. O. Randall, Mr. W. J. 
Sherman. 

It is believed that, as time goes on, the citizens of 
the State, and of the country at large, will more and 
more appreciate the work which this Society has done, 
and that, in seeing what prehistoric man accomplished 
with crude implements made of stone and bone, they 



414 Story of My Life 

will feel for them greater respect, -and will be stim- 
ulated to more earnest study of all the records of the 
past. Except in the possession of the accumulated 
wisdom of the centuries, and the labor-saving machin- 
ery of modern invention, prehistoric man was the equal 
of modern man, and moved by all the aspirations and 
sentiments which animate existing races. They erected 
defensive works that demanded for their execution a 
highly organized society; they carried on an extensive 
commerce; they had a high appreciation of the beauties 
of nature, as shown in their selection of village sites; 
they had cultivated tastes, as shown in their collection 
of ornamental pearls gathered from far and near, and 
in the exquisite carvings upon their pipes of peace, and 
by their successful attempts to counterfeit pearls when 
the natural supply was not sufficient; and finally, they 
honored the dead and worshiped the Great Spirit. 

One of the things which I have taken special delight 
in accomplishing has been the preparation of a booklet 
of a hundred pages, entitled " See Ohio First/' in 
which a condensed account is given of the geology, 
physical geography, archaeology, and history of the 
State, to w r hich are appended thirty-nine itineraries, by 
which the tourist may, with as little waste of time 
and expense as possible, visit all the places of special 
interest in the State. It is a " consummation devoutly 



Archaological and Professorial Work 415 

to be wished," that our teachers and our citizens in 
general should he induced to appreciate the interesting 
things about their own doors, before wasting their time 
and treasure in long journeys to get hasty glimpses of 
foreign fields. 

Before closing this narrative, a few words should be 
said concerning the work which I have done as teacher 
at Oberlin. From 1881 to 1892 I filled the chair of 
New Testament Language and Literature in the The- 
ological Seminary, being associated with an exception- 
ally able corps of instructors. James H. Fairchild 
filled the chair of Systematic Theology; Albert H. 
Currier, that of Homiletics and Pastoral Theology; 
Frank H. Foster, that of Church History; William 
G. Ballantine, that of Hebrew and Old Testament 
Literature, and William B. Chamberlain, that of Elo- 
cution and Rhetoric. At the same time an English 
department under the instruction of Edward I. Bos- 
worth drew a large number of earnest students. This 
was a combination of ability, both for scholarship and 
skill in imparting knowledge, such as it is difficult to 
excel. The attendance in the classical department 
rose to upwards of sixty, all of whom studied the 
Bible in Hebrew and Greek; while the English de- 
partment numbered forty or fifty. 

From 1892 to 1907 I occupied the chair of Harmony 



41 6 Story of My Life 

of Science and Revelation, created specially for me. 
During this period my instruction was equally divided 
between theological and college classes, — a special 
course being given in glacial geology. Of the success 
attending my work as teacher I will not venture to 
speak. Information on that point must be looked for 
in the development of the hundreds of pupils who were 
in my classes. This Story, which I now bring to a 
close, contains the " substance of doctrine " which it 
was my aim to impart. Having, in 1907, already 
passed the age at which it was decreed that professors 
who were to receive the Carnegie pension were to re- 
tire, I have since been freer than before to devote my 
time to the work of preparing, for the general public, 
the statement of facts and truths relating both to the 
material and the spiritual world which I have en- 
deavored to impart to my classes. 

In surveying my life I am more and more im- 
pressed with my constant dependence on the help of 
others. At every stage of progress I have been but a 
single factor in cooperation with many others in bring- 
ing about results. And over all a kind Providence 
has preserved me from the natural fruits of my own 
perversity and ignorance, and brought about good re- 
sults which my own plans would have failed to ac- 
complish. My lines have indeed fallen tQ me in 



Archaeological and Professorial Work 417 

pleasant places, and I have had a goodly heritage. I 
have had sufficient difficulties to overcome to duly 
develop my powers, I have had a favoring Providence 
to shield me from irretrievable error, and a host of 
friends to help me on my way at every important 
juncture of my life. What I have accomplished must 
be judged by the test of its endurance in the future. 
What more could I ask except that I be spared a few 
more years to show " to the generation to come the 
praises of the Lord, and his strength, and his wonder- 
ful works that he hath done " ; and that I be able 
cheerfully to resign myself in due time to meet the last 
ordeal, and enter with the Christian's hope on the 
untried scenes of the future life, when that which is 
perfect is come and that which is in part shall be done 
away; and when I shall know even as I am known. 



41 8 Story of My Life 



CHAPTER XVI 

MY CREED 

1. / knoiv that I exist J experience certain sensa- 
tions, and put forth exertions to explain and coordin- 
ate these sensations so that they shall form a basis for 
a system of beliefs by which to guide my conduct. I 
know that I ought to shape my conduct with reference 
to the highest good of being. 

2. / believe that the primal, self-existent, eternal 
reality was spiritual and personal, rather than material 
and impersonal. 

Something must be self-existent and eternal. The 
only problem is whether that something is personal or 
impersonal. The supposition, that an impersonal 
force should have filled nature with the utilities and 
adaptations which we observe, and should at last have 
evolved the personality of man, is as near an absurdity 
as can be conceived. That a self-existent personality 
should have planned and created nature involves no 
such an absurdity. Even in regard to matter, its crea- 
tion is by no means an absurdity, for we know nothing 
of it except its manifestations. Matter is changeable 
in form, fugitive in its effects, and is known by man 



My Creed 419 

only on its outside. Any theory of its ultimate com- 
position leads to a profound mystery. Atoms and 
molecules arc merely combinations and bundles of 
force. It does not remove, but multiplies the mystery, 
if, with some modern physicists, we invest the atom 
with all the qualities and capacities attributed by the- 
ory to the Deity himself. 

3. / b el [eve that God is a creator and has estab- 
lished a system of secondary causes, both material and 
spiritual. The doctrine of monism and of the im- 
manence of God as set forth by its extreme advocates 
overlooks the plainest facts of experience. 

At one time I was invited to address a large min- 
isters' meeting in which I was preceded by an extreme 
advocate of the divine immanence. The speaker had 
maintained that everything in the outside world was 
a direct creation of God. There were no inherent 
forces in the material that constituted the table be- 
fore him. The table was merely a phantasmagoria, 
kept on the screen by the direct action of the Creator. 
Our own actions were the product of immediate di- 
vine agency. God worked in us directly to produce 
all our good impulses. At the outset of my address, 
I turned to the speaker and asked him if he held God 
responsible for all the mean things he had ever done. 
Being an honest man, he confessed that he did not. 
Whatever was the source of the good in him, the 



420 Story of My Life 

meanness in him was his own creation, thus acknowl- 
edging himself as a secondary cause, endowed with 
power to resist the will of God. That admission 
made, the existence was granted of secondary causes, 
which, properly conceived, are centers of various kinds 
of forces which the Creator voluntarily permits to act 
within their sphere by their inherent capacities. From 
these spheres of action he has, in the act of creation, 
voluntarily withdrawn his direct agency. 

4. / believe that, in the beginning, God created 
the elements out of which have evolved, under his di- 
rection, the heavens and the earth; in other words, 
that he gave to the ultimate particles of matter the 
qualities of inertia which permit them to be segre- 
gated into the various masses which appear in the uni- 
verse; that he imparted to these particles and masses 
the motions appearing in the infinite variety of com- 
binations incident to a progressive universe, and, over 
all, imposed the mysterious power of gravitation. 
How these things were done, I have no idea. They 
belong to the mysteries, no less of science than of the- 
ology. 

5. / believe that in due time the principle of life 
came into ihe world as a new creation. 

This belief rests partly upon the fact that its effects 
are contradictory to those of the other forces of na- 
ture. Gravitation pulls every thing down. The fric- 



My Creed 421 

tion of the elements wears away the rocks, and reduces 
everything to a level ; whereas life builds up new 
structures, w T hich defy the power of gravitation, and, in 
animals, moves them hither and thither without any 
regard to the inertia of their component particles. I 
maintain this belief in face of the assertion of Huxley 
that he believed that somewhere in infinite time, and 
amid the infinite series of changes through which mat- 
ter has been called to pass, life with all its possibilities 
did somehow originate from material forces. But, 
though Huxley was a scientific man of high degree, 
this was not a scientific conclusion, since he had just 
admitted that the theory of spontaneous generation 
had been show T n, by a great variety of experiments, to 
be without foundation. But even if we should sup- 
pose that, in the creation of material forces, God had 
endowed them with power automatically to bring 
forth at a certain stage of development what is de- 
scribed in Genesis as plant-life, " whose seed is in 
itself," it would still be a creative act, incorporated 
into the original constitution of things, to develop only 
in due time when conditions w 7 ere ready for its per- 
petuation. But this is as nearly inconceivable as any- 
thing can well be. 

6. / believe that, after the introduction of life into 
the world, there was an orderly progress from lower 
to higher forms, as, in the geological ages, conditions 



4.22 Story of My Life 

became favorable for their maintenance. But I do not 
have sufficient evidence to believe that this progress 
has been due wholly to the inherent forces of nature. 

I would not, however, set hard and fast limits to 
the power of variation in plants and animals, and to 
the power of natural selection in preserving variations 
adapted to new conditions. Since we know that man, 
by selection and protecting care, can produce in species 
such varieties as we have in domestic plants and ani- 
mals, we w r ould not say that the Creator may not go 
farther in the use of natural forces to produce varia- 
tions which we should call species, — the difference 
between varieties and species being largely one of 
definition. 

7. I believe that, whatever may be true about 
some organic connection between man and some un- 
known species of anthropoid apes, man with his pres- 
ent physical and spiritual characteristics appeared sud- 
denly on the earth, at no very distant period, as geolo- 
gists count time. 

The peculiar characteristics both of mind and body 
which constitute man are too numerous and peculiar 
to have come in by slow increments. The average 
human brain weighs three times as much as the aver- 
age brain of the gorilla. The average brain capacity 
of the earliest prehistoric skulls yet discovered is equal 
to that of existing races. The upright position of 



My Creed 423 

man ; his free and shorter arms, with the delicately 

adjusted thumb and fingers upon the extremity; his 
well-developed lower limbs, and the broad-soled foot 
with the stiff projecting big toe; the absence of a hairy 
covering, together with the mental capacities enabling 
man to make fire at will, to construct implements of 
stone and bone and wood, create spoken language and 
means of perpetuating his thoughts by hieroglyphs and 
alphabetical characters; especially his powers of induc- 
tive reasoning by which he learns the courses of the stars 
and studies the history of the earth in its rocky strata, 
and through a variety of sciences learns the history of 
man in the past and forecasts his future both in this 
world and the next, — such a combination of bodily and 
mental characteristics could not have been produced 
by piecemeal. Without the mental characteristics those 
of the body would be disadvantageous. Without the 
bodily characteristics, the mental developments would 
be useless. Such complicated accidental combinations 
are inconceivable. They can occur only as the product 
of design, which is equivalent to creation. 

8. / believe in a Glacial epoch, the magnitude and 
complication of zvhose effects fezv as yet begin to com- 
prehend. 

It would seem incredible, if the evidence were not 
overwhelming, that the warm climate of the Tertiary 
period should have been succeeded by climatic condi- 



424 Story of My Life 

tions which compelled the snows of the north to ac- 
cumulate till they pushed the vast mass of glacial ice, 
a mile thick in North America, down to New York 
City, Cincinnati, Carbondale in the southern part of 
Illinois, and Topeka in Kansas, covering in all four 
million square miles; and in Europe filling the North 
Sea and covering the British Isles almost down to the 
latitude of London, and extending to the mountain 
barriers south of Berlin to the center of Germany, 
and to Kiev in Russia, covering, in all, two million 
square miles. But such are the facts. 

9. / believe that the conditions of the Glacial epoch 
were so abnormal that they render nugatory a vast 
amount of reasoning by which archaeologists draw, 
from present conditions, inferences concerning the 
events of the past. 

In connection with the advance and retreat of the 
glacial ice there was a great destruction of animal 
species that were contemporaries of man, and a re- 
markable development and redistribution of species 
both of plants and animals. There is abundant evi- 
dence that great changes of land level occurred in the 
Northern Hemisphere, first in its depression during 
the accumulation and climax of the period, and again 
in its reelevation after its close. This postglacial de- 
pression amounted to 600 feet at Montreal, and 1,000 
feet farther north in America and in corresponding 



My Creed 425 

latitudes in northern Europe; while there is distinct 
evidence of a depression in Central Asia, amounting 
to 700 feet, and much evidence of its extension to 
2,000 feet. At the same time, the floods connected 
with the final melting of the ice were perfectly enor- 
mous in their amount, and incalculable in their de- 
structive effects on animal life. During that period 
the Missouri River was compelled to handle, during 
the summer months, twenty-five tim?s its present 
volume of water, causing floods two hundred feet in 
height; while the Mississippi River was compelled, at 
the same time, to dispose of sixty times its present vol- 
ume. Let him who can, picture to himself the signifi- 
cance of these facts. 

10. / believe that the Glacial epoch continued 
down to historical times. 

The evidence is such as should convince anyone who 
candidly considers all the facts, that glacial ice did not 
retreat from southern Sweden until seven thousand 
years ago. Nor did it retreat from central New York 
and northern Minnesota at a much earlier date. It 
is still retreating at a rapid rate in Alaska, the Muir 
Glacier having retired seven miles and a half in the 
-*"S and nearly all the other gla- 
ciers 4. ._ _ „ _ _us it would appear that when 
the civilization of Egypt, Babylonia, and Central Asia 
was at its height, the most populous present progressive 



426 Story of My Life 

centers of the world were buried beneath a glaciar 
covering. Any one who draws inferences concerning 
the earliest history of mankind, without duly consider- 
ing these facts and others correlated with them, is sure 
to be misled. 

11. I believe that the abnormal conditions con- 
nected with the Glacial epoch make it impossible, 
when the documents are properly interpreted, to dis- 
credit the stories of the flood in Genesis and of the 
distribution of the human race from Central Asia. 

12. / believe that with all mans splendid capaci- 
ties for inductive reasoning, by which he extracts 
knowledge from the facts of nature with reference to 
the things which are distant in space and time both 
past and future, he needs, for his guidance and satis- 
faction, a supplementary revelation from God. 

The demands of man's ethical nature and the needs 
of his moral nature cry out for some more definite 
knowledge, both of the Creator's dealings with him in. 
the past and of his intentions respecting him in the fu- 
ture, than he can obtain from personal experience or by 
induction from the complicated facts of the material 
universe and of the general history of the race. 

It is well that, in making such supnl" -Ra- 

tion to man, God has reso^' 

tellectual capacity bestowed upon him, by which he 
weighs and estimates historical evidence and transmits 



My C reed 427 

to the future the truths already thus obtained, enabling 
successive generations to stand upon the shoulders of 
their predecessors, and so to secure progress from age 
to age. It is little less than suicidal for one generation 
to sunder the historical connection that binds them to 
the past, — especially to that epoch in history that 
witnessed the introduction of Christianity. 

13. / believe that in the Bible we have such a sup- 
plementary revelation from God of the facts and truths 
essential to the promotion of true religion. 

The proof of this comes largely from the character 
and extent of the influence which the Bible has al- 
ready had in the world. But this presumptive infer- 
ence is amply supported by every other kind of needed 
evidence. The first chapter of Genesis stands un- 
rivalled, as a comprehensive and brief statement of the 
origin of the universe and the development of the 
world up to the introduction of man. No unaided hu- 
man intellect could, in the period when the first chap- 
ter of Genesis was written, have framed a cosmogony 
with which modern science could find so little fault. 
The historical statements of the Old Testament are 
so amply confirmed by the inscriptions upon the monu- 
ments of Assyria, Babylonia, Palestine, and Egypt, 
and by study of the natural conditions amid which 
their seemingly incredible facts are said to have oc- 
curred, that they stand accredited as fully as could be 



428 Story of My Life 

desired, and more fully than any other extended his- 
torical document of ancient times. Disbelief in the 
statements of the Old Testament is mainly the re- 
sult, not of superior knowledge, but of ignorance. 

14. / believe that greater care than is wont 
should be used in the inspection and interpretation of 
the reported miracles, lest we burden ourselves with 
unnecessary and harmful incongruities betiveen the al- 
leged facts and the objects to be accomplished. 

An extraordinary interference with the course of 
nature implies an extraordinary end to be accom- 
plished. We cannot believe that the Creator would 
invalidate the law of parsimony, and put forth super- 
fluous force for the accomplishment of his purposes. 
Causing the sun and moon to stand still, in the literal 
sense, would seem a superfluous expenditure of force 
to secure so small a thing as a victory over Israel's 
enemy. It is a relief, therefore, to find that a proper 
interpretation of the narrative easily brings it within 
the range of credibility. The words translated " stand 
still " may as w r ell be translated " be silent," equivalent 
to stop shining, thus making the prayer a request that 
the storm, which is said to have been prevailing, 
might continue until the victory was complete. 

Still I would not press this statement to unreason- 
able lengths: the law of parsimony may be made to 
work in both directions. The display of a great 



My Creed 429 

amount of force in the accomplishment of a purpose, 
if properly substantiated by evidence, proves the im- 
portance of the end to be secured, which may be the 
accrediting of a witness, or the imparting of force to 
a figure of speech. In the main the reported miracles 
of the Bible are made to serve these purpo es, and so 
are indispensable elements in making a divine revela- 
tion effective. 

Again, the short chronology formerly adduced from 
the Biblical statements, which seems to conflict with 
the scientific evidence of the antiquity of man, is shown 
by Professor William Henry Green to be an incorrect 
and unnecessary inference from the data. The phrases 
" son of " and " begat, " while indicating direct line 
of descent, do by no means indicate immediate descent, 
so that the genealogies in Genesis v. and xi. are in- 
definite in their time ratios, and can be stretched out 
to any length required by other evidence w T hich may be 
at hand. 

A large number of the miracles of the Old Testa- 
ment belong to a class described as " mediate mir- 
acles/' in which the means employed are evident, the 
miraculous element consisting in the use of such a 
degree of power as to indicate in some way the direct 
presence of the Creator's activity. This is illustrated 
in the crossing of the Red Sea, where the wind is ex- 
pressly said to have been the means by which the 



430 Story of My Life 

waters were parted for the Israelites to pass through 
and were brought back again to overwhelm the 
Egyptions. In the destruction of Sodom and Go- 
morrah, the plagues of Egypt, the opening of the Jor- 
dan for Joshua's host, the fall of the walls of Jericho, 
the destruction of Sennacherib's host, and various other 
miracles, the secondary causes involved are now easily 
recognized by scientific investigators. Whether this 
abnormal use of secondary causes involves the direct 
interference, by the Creator, w T ith the course of na- 
ture, as when a man kindles a fire or blows the dust 
from his mantel, or whether it merely involves that 
foreknowledge w T hich makes the conjunction of events 
a matter of prophecy, is immaterial. In either case it 
becomes a supernatural event, sufficient to accredit the 
human agent in whose behalf it takes place. The im- 
portance of the results flowing from the Old Testa- 
ment miracles amply justifies their introduction into 
the course of human history. For it is through their 
influence upon the Jewish race that the conception of 
the unity of God has been preserved in the world. 
Idolatry prevails everywhere except among Jews, Mo- 
hammedans, and Christians, who have felt the direct 
impulse of these miraculous interpositions. Further- 
more, the Jewish history prepared by these miraculous 
revelations of God has furnished the root upon w T hich 
Christianity could be grafted. These results are cer- 



My Creed 4^1 

tainly sufficient to justify the means supposed to be 
employed. The ends accomplished by the Old Testa- 
ment miracles are as noble and important as the means 
for accrediting the revelation were extraordinary. 

15. / believe that the books of the New Testa- 
ment are genuine and authoritative records of the facts 
concerning Christ's life and the doctrines which are 
logically connected with that life. 

This belief, too, is justified by the fruits of Chris- 
tianity. The noblest civilization of the world, and 
that on w T hich the highest hopes of the future depend, 
has sprung directly from the life and teachings of 
Christ, as revealed in the New Testament. Outside 
of the New Testament we have no facts and teach- 
ings of Christ of any importance. All this is sufficient 
to give presumptive evidence, of the highest value, that 
Christianity rests upon a foundation of fact. 

This presumption is supported by such an amount 
of additional evidence, of a scientific character, as to 
establish its truth beyond reasonable doubt. The doc- 
uments of the New Testament all bear evidence of 
having been produced so near to the events recorded, 
that they are first-class witnesses. Some of the Epistles 
of Paul, witnessing to all the essential facts of Christ's 
life, were certainly written within thirty years of his 
death. There is abundant evidence to show that the 
first three Gospels were written before the destruction 



432 Story of My Life 

of Jerusalem. The Gospel of John, though written 
towards the close of the century, comes, as an historical 
document, far within the limit which is set by his- 
torians for the competency of traditional evidence. 
The testimony of the New Testament to the fact of 
Christ's death upon the cross and of his subsequent 
bodily resurrection satisfies all the requirements of 
judicial procedure in courts of law, and is, in fact, 
not only ample but superabundant to produce a belief 
in the facts which is beyond reasonable doubt. It is 
needless to say that the proposed object of Christ's 
death, and the actual results flowing from belief in it, 
amply justify the means employed to display the love 
of God for the human race, and the plan by which its 
restoration to righteousness and happiness may be se- 
cured. This one miracle, of Christ's resurrection, be- 
ing established by evidence that cannot be controverted, 
there is no difficulty in believing the story of minor 
miracles connected with his life. 

1 6. I believe that we can most effectively preserve 
the truths of the Christian revelation and promote the 
unity of the church by adhering, in the main, to the 
formulas of doctrine wrought out through the ex- 
periences of the early church, and incorporated in the 
Nicene Creed. 

Whatever criticisms may be made of these formulas, 
they avail little against the fact that they represent 



My Creed 433 

the main springs of the life of Christ's followers, near- 
est the original fountain of truth, and before the 
stream had been polluted by the corruptions of more 
prosperous times. I fear that, in the efforts to eman- 
cipate ourselves from the misunderstandings incident 
to the acceptance of the early creeds of the church, 
and to substitute in their place the refinements of mod- 
ern metaphysical speculations, we shall lose the power 
of the great original truths, and w r aste our lives in a 
rarefied air of speculative philosophy, unsupported by 
the facts of revelation; and doom our followers to 
the fate of those spoken of by the prophets as " walking 
in sparks of their own kindling. ,, 

I fear that an uncritical acceptance of the doctrine 
of evolution will pervert the minds of an increasing 
number of the leaders of public opinion in Christian 
lands, so as to rob the mass of the people of their pre- 
cious heritage in the most inspiring doctrines of Chris- 
tianity. A tissue of myths and fables is a poor sub- 
stitute for an historical record of divine intervention, 
in accrediting messengers who could speak in the 
name of the Lord. A Saviour w T ho was not " God 
manifest in the flesh " but a being of human origin, 
whose character and work is not that which is his- 
torically represented in the New Testament, but an 
illusion of speculative writers of a subsequent gener- 
ation, is a feeble substitute for the gospel which is 



434 Story of My Life 

the power of God unto salvation. I fear, therefore, 
that before these erroneous and stifling views shall 
be stayed in their spread from the various centers of 
learning where they are being propagated, an untold 
multitude, deprived of the real bread of life, will pine 
away in a land where spiritual food is scarce, and 
where faith is by no means " the substance of things 
hoped for." 

I fear that, robbed of " the faith of the fathers," 
which transformed the Roman Empire, and which, 
wherever it has opportunity to " run and have free 
course and be glorified," is still transforming the 
world, the " powers that be," which are controlling 
the political and social order of nations, will drive the 
w T orld to destruction and make the forecasts of the 
premillenarians a true and welcome prophecy of events 
that are to come. 

17. I confidently expect that, as the Lord has 
often, in the past, raised up " judges in Israel " to lead 
the people out of bondage, so now, leaders zvill be 
raised up, whose voices will be effectively heard in de- 
fense of the ff faith once delivered to the saints." 

18. / confidently expect that theologians and men 
of science will in due time come to such mutual un- 
derstanding that, recognizing their own limitations and 
giving credit to both the direct and the indirect revela- 
tions of the Creator, they will incorporate into their 



My Creed 435 

creeds the well-established truths pertaining to both 
the material and spiritual worlds. 

We look for a speedy return of the day when lead- 
ing men of science, in line with Copernicus, Galileo, 
Kepler, Tycho Brahe, Sir Isaac Newton, the Her- 
schels, Benjamin Pierce, Angelo Secchi, C. A. Young, 
Sir Humphrey Davy, Benjamin Silliman, Michael 
Faraday, Clerk Maxwell, Lord Kelvin, Baron Cuvier, 
Sir Richard Owen, Louis Agassiz, Sir Robert Murch- 
ison, Hugh Miller, Sir Joseph Prestwich, President 
Edw r ard Hitchcock, Sir William Daw r son, J. D. Dana, 
Alexander and N. H. Winchell, Joseph LeConte, Asa 
Gray, John Torrey, Joseph Henry, and a host of 
others, will duly magnify the facts of the spiritual 
w T orld, and fully appreciate the evidence by which they 
are brought to our consideration through the revela- 
tion contained in the Bible. We look for a new 
generation of clergymen, who shall follow in the 
footsteps of Dean Buckland, Adam Sedgwick, J. P. 
Smith, J. S. Henslow, Peter Lesley, Edward Orton, 
and others, who, in addition to their theological train- 
ing (perhaps by virtue of it), shall greatly enlarge the 
range of knowledge in various scientific fields. 

19. / hope and expect that God will make use of 
the judgments now falling so heavily upon the nations 
of the world, so to exhibit the " exceeding sinfulness 
of sin " and so to magnify his grace in the atoning 



436 Story of My Life 

zcork of his Son, that the whole world shall fear and 
tremble, and that, by mighty outpourings of the Holy 
Spirit, as on the day of Pentecost, the world shall be 
convicted of the manifold ways in which they have 
crucified their Lord afresh, and shall speedily return 
in humble penitence to the Lord that bought them. 



APPENDIX 

NOTES 

CHAPTER I 

Note i, p. 15.— See pages 334~337- 
Note 2, p. 15. — See page 378. 

CHAPTER III 

'Note i, p. 124. — See page 132-136. 

CHAPTER IV 

Note i, p. 139. — See "Studies in Science and Religion," 
chap. v. 

Note i, p. 140. — This moraine forms the backbone of 
Long Island, and furnishes, like a huge sponge, the water 
supply of Brooklyn and the various cities throughout the 
length of the Island. 

CHAPTER XI 

Note i, p. 265. — See Bulletin of the Geological Society 
of America, vol. xiii. p. 136 f. A more detailed calculation 
is found in my " Scientific Confirmations of Old Testament 
History," pp. 208-213. 

Note i, p. 306. — " Origin and Antiquity of Man," chap. xi. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 
1871 
Ground of confidence in inductive reasoning. New Eng 
30: 601-15 O 

1873 
Recent works on prehistoric archaeology. Bib Sac 30: 381-4 Ap 

437 



438 Story of My Life 

1874 
Baptism of infants, and their church membership. Bib Sac 
31: 265-99, 545-75 Ap, Jl 

1875 

Indian Ridge and its continuations. Bull Essex Inst 7: 
165-8 D 

Recent works bearing upon the relations of science to relig- 
ion. Bib Sac 32: 537-55 Jl 

1876 
Divine method of producing species. Bib Sac 33: 448- 

494 Jl 

Dr. Hodge's misrepresentations of President Finney's system 
of theology. Bib Sac 33: 381-92 Ap 

Recent works bearing upon the relations of science and relig- 
ion. Bib Sac 33: 44^-93, 656-94 Jl, O 

Some remarkable gravel ridges in the Merrimack valley. 
Proc Bos Soc Nat Hist 19: 47-63 D 20 

Book Reviews. Bib Sac 33: 584-90, 773-8 Jl, O 

History of the Conflict between Religion and Science, by 
J. W. Draper; Great Ice Age and its Relation to the 
Antiquity of Man, by James Geikie; Chips from a Ger- 
man Workshop, by Max Muller; Darwiniana, by Asa 
Gray. 

1877 

A fortnight in South Carolina. Ch Un Mr 28, Ap 4 

In memory of John Dove, Esquire: a sermon preached . . . 
Nov. 26, 1876. pp. 24 

President Finney's system of theology in its relations to the 
so-called New England theology. Bib Sac 34: 708-41 O 

Professor Max Muller and his American critics. Bib Sac 
34: 183-90 Ja 

Progress among the Freedmen. Nation 24: 189-90 Mr 29 

Recent works bearing upon the relations of science and relig- 
ion. Bib Sac 34: 355-85 Ap 

Book Review. Bib Sac 34: 584-7 Jl 

Geographical Distribution of Animals, by A. R. Wallace. 



Appendix 4.^9 



Karnes in the south part of Rockingham county [N. H.] and 
in northeastern Massachusetts. N H Geol Sur 3: 167-70 

Proper attitude of religious teachers towards scientific ex- 
perts. New Eng 37: 776-89 N 

What the argument for immortality is. Ind Ap 11 

What the argument for immortality is not. Ind Mr 28 

1879 

J. Stuart Mill on the omnipotence of God. Ind S 11 
Karnes and moraines of New England. Proc Bos Soc Nat 
Hist 20: 210-20 Ap 2 

Book Reviews. Bib Sac 36: 201-4, 398-400, 782-4 Ja, Ap, O 
Elements of Geology, by Joseph LeConte; Popular As- 
tronomy, by Simon Newcomb ; Human Species, by A. De 
Quatrefages; Freedom in Science and Teaching, by 
Haeckel and Huxley; Evolution of Man, by E. Haeckel; 
Darwinism and Other Essays, by John Fiske. 

1880 

[Address] at opening of Brigham Academy, Bakersfield, Vt, 

Aug. 1879. Exercises and Addresses. 7-25 
Insufficiency of natural religion. Advance Mr 25 
Man and the glacial period. Ind Mr 4 
Palaeolithic man in New Jersey. Ind D 16 
Prehistoric Andover. " Historical Sketches of Andover." 
Recent works bearing upon the relations of science and relig- 
ion. Bib Sac 37: 48-76 Ja 
Reverend Mr. Dillaway's reasons for believing in the Bible. 

Cong S 1 
Why Willie should believe in a God. Cong Ag 18 
Why Willie should believe in Christ as divine. Cong Ag 25 

Book Reviews. Bib Sac 37: 390-5, 577-86 Ap, Jl 

Natural Science and Religion, by Asa Gray; Final Causes, 
by Paul Janet; An Introduction to the Philosophy of Re- 
ligion, by John Caird ; Preadamites, by Alexander Win- 



440 Story of My Life 

chell ; History of Materialism, by F. A. Lange; Early 
Man in Britain, by W. Boyd Dawkins. 

1881 

Attempt to estimate the age of the palaeolithic-bearing grav- 
els in Trenton, N. J. Proc Bos Soc Nat Hist 21: 137-45 
Ja 19 

Book Reviews. Bib Sac 38: 199-206, 394-9, 587-91 Ja, 
Ap, JI 

Religion and Chemistry, by J. P. Cooke; Gleanings from 
a Literary Life, by Francis Bowen ; Creation and Early 
Development of Society, by J. H. Chapin ; Essays on Art 
and Archaeology, by C. T. Newton; Island Life, by A. R. 
Wallace; Brain as an Organ of the Mind, by Bastian; 
Past in the Present. What is Civilization? by Arthur 
Mitchell; Relation of Science and Religion, by Calder- 
wood ; Anniversary Memoirs of the Boston Society of 
Natural History. 

1882 
Physical science in the theological seminary. Bib Sac 39: 
190-6 Ja 

Book Reviews. Bib Sac 39: 207, 208 Ja 

Primitive Industry, by C. C. Abbott; Report upon the 
United States Geographical Surveys West of the One 
Hundredth Meridian, by F. W. Putman. 

1883 
Exaggerations of the issues between science and religion. 

Cong My 10 
Parsonage and the home missionary. Advance Ap 19 
Practical bearings of our belief concerning the relation of 

death to probation. Bib Sac 40: 694-713 O 
Prehistoric man in North America. Advance N 8, 15, 29, 

D 13, 27 
Recent investigations concerning the southern boundary of 

the glaciated area of Ohio. Am Jour Sci 26: 44-56 Jl 
Science and life. Overland Mo 1 : 279-82 S 



Appendix 441 

Some of the foundations that science cannot shake. Cong 

N [y 3 1 
True and false agnosticism. Cong My 3 
Uncertainties of science. Cong My 17 

1884 

Dr. Ladd on alleged discrepancies and errors of the Bible. 

Bib Sac 41: 389-98 Ap 
Glacial Boundary in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. We>t 

Res Hist Soc Tract 60 
Glacial boundary in Ohio. Geol Sur of O 5: 750-72 
Glacial man in Ohio. Howe's Hist Coll of O 1 : 90-9 
Glaciated area of North America. Am Nat 18: 755-67 Ag 
Misplaced agnosticism. Cong Ag 7 

Niagara Gorge as a chronometer. Bib Sac 41: 369-76 Ap 
Prehistoric man in North America. Advance Ja 3, 17, 31, 

F 14, 28, Mr 13, 27, Ap 10, 24, My 15 
Prof. John Morgan. Advance O 23 
Theory of a glacial dam at Cincinnati and its verification. 

Am Nat 18: 563-7 Je 
What is eld may be true. Cong N 6 

Book Review. Bib Sac 41: 197-202 Ja 

The Doctrine of Sacred Scripture, by G. T. Ladd. 

1885 
Christian consciousness. Cong My 5 
Dr. Ladd's agnosticism. Bib Sac 42: 765-72 O 
Man and the glacial period in America. Mag West Hist 

1 : 289-300 F 
Prof. Wright and some of his critics. Bib Sac 42: 351-9 Ap 

Book Reviews. Bib Sac 42: 591-600 Jl 

Elements of Moral Science, by Noah Porter; On the Dif- 
ference between Physical and Mcral Law, by William 
Arthur; Paradise Found, by William F. Warren. 

1886 
Has modern criticism affected unfavorably any of the essen- 



442 Story of My Life 

rial doctrines of Christianity? Horn Rev u: 307-12 Ap 
Wonders of Alaska. Advance N 11, 25, D 9 

Book Review. Bib Sac 43: 785-7 O 

Evolution of Revelation, by James M. Whiten. 

1887 

Age of the Ohio gravel-beds. Proc Bcs Soc Nat Hist 23: 

427-36, D 21 
American Board and speculative theology. Bib Sac 44: 

707-24 O 
Gas wells. Cong Mr 17 
Genesis and science. Cong F 24 
Importance of the study of the archaeology of Ohio. Ohio 

State Arch and Hist Soc Pub 1: 55-60 
Muir Glacier. Am Jour Sci 33: 1-18 Ja 
Notes on the glaciation cf the Pacific coast. Am Nat 21 : 

250-6 Mr 
[With A. A. Currier] Park's discourses considered homilet- 

ically and theologically. Bib Sac 44: 156-74 Ja 
Prof. Smyth and the Andover Creed. Bib Sac 44: 557- 

559 ji 

Relation of the glacial period to archaeology in Ohio. Ohio 

State Arch and Hist Sec Pub 1: 174-186 
Term " son of man " as used in the New Testament. Bib 

Sac 44: 575-601 O 
Wonders of Alaska. Advance Ja 20, 27, Mr? 24 

Book Reviews. Bib Sac 44: 194-7, 564-7, 729-34 Ja, Jl, O 
Nature and the Bible, by F. H. Reusch ; An Introduction 
to the Textual Criticism of the New Testament, by B. B. 
Warfield ; Commentary on the Gospel of John, by F. 
Godet. 



Age of the Philadelphia red gravel. Proc Bos Sec Nat Hist 

24: 152-7 D 19 
A secret of missionary success. Cong Ag 30 
Cosmogony of Genesis (Rejoinder to Professor Driver's 



Appendix 4-M 

Critique of Professor Dana). Bib Sac 45: 356-65 Ap 
Debt of the church to Asa Gray. Bib Sac 45: 5 2 3-3° J 1 
Indian missions as seen upon the ground. Cong Ag 2 
Inspiration. Our Day 1: 468-71 Je 
Mr. Darwin's religion. Cong Mr 1 
Prof. Asa Gray. Advance F 9 

Book Review. Bib Sac 45: 366-72 Ap 
Life and Letters of Charles Darwin. 



Affinity of science for Christianity. Bib Sac 46: 701-20 O 

Darwinism and deism. Ind O 10 

Darwin on Herbert Spencer. Bib Sac 46: 181-84 Ja 

Dr. Briggs on the higher criticism and its results. Bib Sac 

46: 381-3 Ap 
Glacial period and Noah's deluge. Bib Sac 46: 466-74 Jl 
Huxley among the false prophets. Advance Je< 20 
Huxley en the cessation of miracles. Cong Ag 29 
Nampa image: correspondence relating to its discovery, with 

explanatory comments, etc. Proc Bos Soc Nat Hist 24: 

424-50 Ja 
Peril from glacial reservoirs. Ind Ag 18 
Reexamination of Darwin's theory of coral islands. Bib Sac 

46: 377-81 Ap 
Transcendental science. Ind O 3 
Union efforts between Congregationalists and Presbyterians: 

results and lessons. Bib Sac 46: 721-5 O 
Uses and abuses of an important interpretation. Bib Sac 

46: 304-20 Ap 

Book Review. Bib Sac 45 : 743-5 O 

Bible Doctrine of Inspiration, by Basil Manly. 

1890 

Archaeological discovery in Idaho. Scrib Mag 7: 235-8 F 

Civil wars of science. Ind S 18 

Country church. Bib Sac 47: 267-84 Ap 



444 Story of My Life 

Discovery of a palaeolithic implement at New Comerstown, 

Ohio. West Res Hist Soc Tract 75 
Dr. Briggs's "Whither." Bib Sac 47: 136-53 Ja 
Glacial boundary in western Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, 

Indiana, and Illinois. U S Geol Sur Bull 58 
Moraine of retrocession in Ontario. Bull Geol Soc Am 1 : 

544-6 
Mormon muddle in Utah. Nation 51: 338-9 O 30 
Mormon question in Idaho. Nation 51: 243-4 S 25 
Owen's socialistic experiment at New Harmony. Cong Ap 17 
Palaeolithic man in Ohio. Nation 50: 331 Ap 24 
Statute of limitations. Cong F 20 
Truth about Yellowstone Park. Cong O 2 

Book Reviews. Bib Sac 47: 159-165 Ja 

Mental Evolution in Man, by G. J. Romanes; Darwin- 
ism, by A. R. Wallace; Scientific Papers of Asa Gray. 

1891 
A catastrophe of the glacial period. Nation 53: 350—1 N 5 
Additional notes concerning the Nampa image. Proc Bos 

Soc Nat Hist 25 : 242-6 
A geological prediction. Cong N 26 
Antiquity of man in the light of recent investigations. Ch 

Ad D 31 
Antiquity of man on the Pacific coast. Ind Ja 15 
A Sunday in Cologne. Cong Ag 6 
Great Shoshone falls. Bost Tran Ag 8 
Lava Beds of Idaho. Sci Am S 19 
Lessons from a recent volcanic eruption in California. Ind 

N 19 
Man and the glacial period. Pop Sci Mo 39: 314-8 Jl 
Origin of the Yosemite canyon. Ind F 26 
Prehistoric man on the Pacific coast. At Mo 67: 501-12 Ap 
Recent discoveries bearing on the antiquity of man. Bib Sac 

48 : 298-309 Ap 
Some fallacies concerning higher criticism. Cong F 12 
Some will-o'-the-wisps of higher criticism. Cong Mr 12 



Appendix 44 S 

Supposed interglacial shell-beds in Shropshire, England. Bull 

Geol Soc Am 3 : 505-8 
Table-mountain archaeology. Nation 52: 419-20 My 21 

Book Reviews. Bib Sac 48: 185-6, 531-5, 542-3 Ja, Jl 
Eschatology according to the Chronology of the Apoca- 
lypse, by F. Gi Hibbard; Change of Attitude toward the 
Bible, by J. H. Thayer; Elements of Geology, by Joseph 
LeConte. 

1892 

Adjustments between the Bible and science. Bib Sac 49: 
- 153-6 Ja 

An English glacial myth. Nation 54: 318-9 Ap 28 
A travesty upon the dominant methods employed in Old Tes- 
tament criticism. Bib Sac 49: 143-9 J a 
Changes in Muir glacier. Ind My 26 
Credibility of the supernatural in the Old Testament. Bib 

Sac 49: 149-53 Ja 
Excitement over glacial theories. Sci 22: 360-1 D 23 
Extra-morainic drift in the Susquehanna, Lehigh and Del- 
aware valleys. Proc Phil Acad Nat Sci 469-84 D 27 
Geological time. Cong Ag 4 
Man and the glacial period. Dial D 16 
Man and the glacial period. Sci 20: 275-7 N 11 
Ministers and mobs. Bib Sac 49: 676-81 O 
Outlets to the Great Lakes. Nation 55: 217-9 S 22 
Pre-Niagara period of, the Great Lakes. Ind N 10 
President Finney and Oberlin. Advance Ag 25 
St. Elias glacial fields. Nation 54: 48-9 Ja 21 
Supposed post-glacial outlet of the Great Lakes through 
Lake Nipissing and the Mattawa river. Bull Geol Soc 
Am 4: 423-7 
Theory of an interglacial submergence in England. Am 

Jour Sci 43 : 1-8 Ja 
Unity of the glacial epoch. Am Jour Sci 44: 351-73 N 

Book Reviews. Bib Sac 49: 169-72, 351-5 Ja, Ap 

What is Reality, by F. H. Johnson; Evolution: its Nature, 



44 () Story of My Life 

its Evidences, and its Relation to Religious Thought, by 
J. LeConte ; Elements of Theology Natural and Revealed, 
by J. H. Fairchild. 

1893 
Additional evidence bearing upon the glacial history of the 

upper Ohio valley. Am Geol 11: 195-9 Mr 
Commerce of the mound builders. Ind N 16 
Evidences of glacial man in Ohio. Pop Sci Mo 43: 29-38 My 
Glacial man in America. Ind Mr 30, Ap 13 
Glaciers of Alaska. Worth Mag 1 : 341-54 Ap 
Ice Age in North America. Dial Ja 16 
Moses and the art of writing. Advance D 19 
Mr. Holmes's criticism upon the evidence of glacial man. 

Sci 21: 267-8 My 19 
Some detailed evidence of an ice-age man in eastern Amer- 
ica. Sci 21 : 65-6 F 3 
Some of Professor Salisbury's criticisms on " Man and the 
Glacial Period." Am Geol 11: 121-6 F 

Book Reviews. Bib Sac 50: 375-6, 552-7 Ap, Jl 

Interpretation of Nature, by N. S. Shaler ; Genesis First 
and Modern Science, by C. B. Warring; Apologetics; or, 
Christianity Defensively Stated, by A. B. Bruce. 

1894 
Adaptations of nature to the highest wants of man. Bib 

Sac 51: 206-30 Ap 
Adaptations of nature to the intellectual wants of man. Bib 

Sac 51 : 560-86 O 
Cincinnati ice dam. Pop Sci Mo 45: 184-98 Je 
Continuity of the glacial period. Am Jour Sci 47: 161-87 

Mr 
Geological time. Ind Ap 5 

In the Snake river valley. Worth Mag 3 : 227-41 Mr 
Last trip of the Miranda. Cong S 13 
Life in the north Atlantic. Nation 59: 422-3 D 6 
Some remarkable fossil fish in Ohio. Ind Ja 4 
The Greenland kayak. Nation 59: 213-4 S 20 



Appendix 447 



Two Sundays in Greenland. Ind O 18 

Book Reviews. Bib Sac 51: 181-3, 351-3, 522-3 Ja, Ap, Jl 
Letters of Asa Gray; Anti-Higher Criticism, by Howard 
Osgood; Is Moses Scientific, by T. E. Kipp. 

1895 
Along the route of Burgoyne. Cong O 3 
Bad philosophy going to» seed. Bib Sac 52: 559-61 Jl 
Glacial phenomena between Lake Champlain, Lake George 

and Hudson river. Sci n s 2: 673-8 X 22 
Dr. Hoist on the continuity of the glacial period. Am Geol 

16: 396-9 D 
Geological history of Lake George. Ind N 28 
Greenland Christianity. Bib Sac 52: 176-9 Ja 
Herbert Spencer on the inadequacy cf natural selection. Ind 

ji " 

Irenicon. Bib Sac 52: 1-17 Ja 

Letter regarding Chicago drainage canal. Clev News and 

Her Mr 25 
New evidence of glacial man in Ohio. Pop Sci Mo 48: 

157-65 D 
Observations upon the glacial phenomena of Newfoundland, 

Labrador and southern Greenland. Am Jour Sci 49: 86- 

94 F 
Professor Prestwich on some supposed new evidence of the 

deluge. Bib Sac 42: 723-39 O 
The Chicago drainage canal. Nation 60: 320-1 Ap 25 
The Chicago ship canal. Ind Je 20 

Book Reviews. Bib Sac 52: 369-70, 569-75 Ap, Jl 

Manual of Geology, by J. D. Dana; Foundations of Be- 
lief, by A. J. Balfour; Thoughts on Religion, by G. J. 
Romanes; Historical Geography of the Holy Land, by 
G. A. Smith. 

1896 
Age of the Philadelphia brick clay. Sci n s 3 : 242-3 F 14 
Fresh relics of glacial man at the Buffalo meeting of the 
A. A. A. S. Am Nat 30: 781-84 O 



448 Story of My Life 

Luke as a historian. Ch 16 of "The Bible as Literature" 

Mary Lyon and Oberlin. Nation 63: 436 D 10 

Memorial of Charles Candee Baldwin, LL.D., late President 

of the Western Reserve Historical Society. West Res 

Hist Soc Tract 88 
The latest concerning Niagara Falls. Ind S 17 

Book Reviews. Bib Sac 53: 196-7, 392-4, 397-8 Ja, Ap 
Higher Critics Criticised, by R. P. Stebbins ; Unity of the 
Bcok iof Genesis, by W. H. Green ; Darwin and after 
Darwin, by G. J. Romanes. 

1897 
Archaeological discoveries made in the gravels at Trenton, 

N. J. Sci n s 5: 586 Ap 9 
Effects of gales on Lake Erie. Ind N 18 
Genesis and geology. Bib Sac 54: 570-2 Jl 
Geology of the Yukon river. Ind Ag 19 
Harmony of science and revelation. Horn Mo 33: 206-10 Mr 
Lyman Abbott rediscovered A.D. 4001. Advance Ap 29 
New "sayings of Jesus." Bib Sac 54: 759-70 O 
Paradoxes of science. Bib Sac 54: 205-31 Ap 
Place of the Sermon on the Mount in the Christian system. 

Bib Sac 54: 381-3 Ap 
Prehistoric man at Trenton. Ind S 9 
Royal road to inluence. Ob Rev 24: 173-81 F 
Special explorations in the implement-bearing deposits on the 

Lalor farm, Trenton, N. J. Sci n s 6: 637-45 O 29 
Yukon gold fields. Nation 65 : 105-6 Ag 5 

1898 
Agassiz and the ice age. Am Nat 32: 165-71 Mr 
" Beyond reasonable doubt " — a practical principle. Horn 

Rev 36: 291-5 O 
Dr. Driver's proof texts. Bib Sac 55: 515-25 Jl 
First chapter of Genesis and modern science. Horn Rev 35: 

392-9 My 
Glacial observations in the Champlain-St. Lawrence valley. 

Am Geol 22: 333-4 N 



Appendix 449 

Gulick's contribution to evolutionary theories. Ind Ap 7 

Nature of miracles. Bib Sac 55: 360-1 Ap 

Present aspects of the questions concerning the origin and 

antiquity of the human race. Prot Epis Rev 11: 300-24 

F, Mr 
Probable rapidity of man's early development. Bib Sac 55: 

359-60 Ap 

1899 
Christian scientists. Bib Sac 56: 374-81 Ap 
Dr. Driver's proof texts. Bib Sac 56: 140-47 Ja 
New method of estimating the age of Niagara Falls. Pop 

Sci Mo 55: 145-54 Je 
Truth about the Nampa figurine. Am Gecl 23 : 267-72 Ap 

Bock Review. Bib Sac 56: 589-92 Jl 

General Introduction to the Study of Holy Scripture, by 

C. A. Briggs. 

1900 
A lecture tour in, Japan. Cong Je 7 
An inside view of Christian movements in Japan. Bib Sac 

57: 609-13 Jl 
Archaeological discoveries in Ohio. Jour of Arch Inst of 

Am 4: 165 
A sure and short method with the Seventh Day Adventists. 

Bib Sac 57: 609 Jl 
Balkash basin. Nation 71 : 401-2 N 22 
Breach between Russia and China. Nation 71 : 247 S 27 
Dr. Gulick's field of investigation. Bib Sac 57: 608-9 Jl 
Evolutionary fad. Bib Sac 57: 303-16 Ap 
Future of China. Bib Sac 57: 738-47 O 
Lake Baikal to the Yenisei. Nation 71: 267 O 4 
Notes on Japan. Nation 70: 395, 415-6 My 24, 31 
Oberlin College. New Eng Mag n s 23 : 65-84 S 
Prehistoric remains in Japan. Sci n s 990-1 Je 22 
Remarks on the loess in north China. Sci n s 12: 71-3 Jl 13 
Russians in Mantchuria. Nation 71: 207-8 S 13 
Samarkand. Nation 71 : 507 D 27 



450 Story of My Life 

Stretensk to Lake Baikal. Nation 71 : 225-6 S 20 

Tashkend. Nation 71 : 441 D 6 

Up the Irtish river. Nation 71: 383 N 15 

Up the Yenisei. Nation 71: 285-6 On 

1901 
Across Asia. Ind 53: 772-5 Ap 4 
Armenian future. Advance. F 7 
Biblical and geological chronology. Advance Ag 29 
Caspian sea. Nation 72: 66 Ja 74 
Caucasus mountains. Nation 72: 152-3 F 21 
Crossing of the Red sea. Bib Sac 58 : 570-9 Jl 
Flood and Genesis. Ind 53: 1858-9 Ag 8 
Geology and the deluge. M?Clure 17: 134-9 J e 
Geology of China. Sci n s 13: 1029-30 Je 28 
Geology's witness to the flood. S S Times Jl 6 
Great Jordan fault. Nation 72:250-2 Mr 28 
Oil-fields of Baku. Nation 72: 46-7 Ja 17 
Origin and distribution of the loess in northern China and 

central Asia. Bull Geol Soc Am 13: 127-38 
Physical preparation for Israel in Palestine. Bib Sac 58: 

360-9 Ap 
Possible population of Palestine. Bib Sac 58: 740-50 O 
Professor Park. Bib Sac 58: 187-90 Ja 
Recent geological changes in northern and central Asia. 

Quart Jour Geol Soc 57: 244-50 My 
Religious future of Siberia. Bib Sac 58: 191-94 Ja 
Religious future of Siberia. Miss R 24: 21 1-3 Mr 
Russian problem in Manchuria. R of Rs 24: 60-7 Jl 
Russo-Turkish border. Nation 72: 211 Mr 14 
Trans-Caspian region and its evidences of the flood. Ind 

53: 1361-3 Je 13 

1902 
Archaeological interests in Asiatic Russia. Rec Past 1 : 7- 

14 Ja 
Case of Professor Pearson. Bib Sac 59: 379-82 Ap 
Christian Evolution. Advance Ja 9 



Appendix 451 



Crimea and the Caucasus. Chaut 36: 253-69 D 

Geological confirmations of the Noachian deluge. Bib Sac 

59: 282-93, 537-56, 695-716 Ap, Jl, 
Geology's testimeny to Israel's crossing the Jordan. S S 

Times S 27 
Influence of the geography of central Asia upon the early 

history of mankind. Trans Ohio Coll Assoc 
Irrepressible conflict in the East. Nation 74: 187-8 Mr 6 
President James H. Fairchild. Bib Sac 59: 375-78 Ap 
Rate of lateral erosion at Niagara. Am Geol 29: 140-3 Mr 
Reminiscences of President Fairchild. Oberlin Rev 29: 

404-6 Mr 27 
Uncertainties of biblical criticism. Advance Jl 31 
Uncertainties of science. Advance My 15 
Years of plenty and years of famine in Egypt. Bib Sac 

59: 169-74 Ja 
Book Reviews. Bib Sac 59: 387-91, 584-9 Ap, Jl 

Rational Basis of Orthodoxy, by A. W. Moore; Lines of 

Defense of Biblical Revelation, by D. S. Margoliouth ; 

Authorship of the Bock of Deuteronomy, by J. W. Mc- 

Garvey. 

Book Review. Rec Past 1: 195-204 Jl 

Oldest Civilization of Greece, by H. R. Hall 

1903 

Age of the Lansing skeleton. Rec of Past 2: 119-24 Ap 
Another glacial wonder. Nation 77: 461-2 D 10 
Archaeological interests of central Asia. Proc Arch Inst of 

Am D 29-31 
Destruction of the Taku forts. Nation 76: 454 Je 4 
Eastern Siberia and Manchuria. Chaut 37: 245-62 Je 
Evidence of the agency of water in the distribution of the 

loess in the Missouri valley. Bull Geol Soc Am 15: 
. 575-6 

Glacial man. Rec Past 2: 259-71 S 
Inspiration of Paul's address at Athens. S S Times Ja 17 



45 ^ Story of My Life 



Lansing skull and the early history of mankind. Bib Sac 

60: 28-32 Ja 
Mediate miracles. Horn Rev 45: 18-22 Ja 
Problems confronting Russian statesmen. Bib Sac 60: 765— 

70 O 
Revision of geological time. Bib Sac 60: 578-82 Jl 
Rights of the community versus the rights of labor. Bib 

Sac 60: 179-81 Ja 
Russian rights in Mantchuria. Nation 76: 41 1-3 My 21 
Scientific basis of religious faith. Cong N 28 
Signs of the glacial period in Japan. Sci n s 17: 349-50 

F 27 
Uncertainties of science and the certainties of religion. Horn 

Rev 46: 413-5 D 
Western Siberia and Turkestan. Chaut 37: 144-59 My 
What the Bible teaches concerning the flood. Horn Mo 45 : 

298-304 Ap 
Book Reviews. Bib Sac 60: 587-905.776-82 Jl, O 

Exploration in Bible Lands during the Nineteenth Cen- 
tury, by H. V. Hilprecht; Old Testament Criticism and 
the Christian Church, by J. E. McFadyen. 

1904 
American Bible League. Bib Sac 61 : 567-71 Jl 
Arkansas cotton belt. Nation 79: 332-3 O 27 
Balfour on design in nature. Bib Sac 61 : 780-3 O 
Bone Cave of San Ciro. Rec Past 3: 216-9 
Dr. Driver's rope of sand. Bib Stud and Tea 3: 151-7 Mr 
Evidence of the agency of water in the distribution of the 

loess in the Missouri valley. Am Geol 33: 205-22 Ap 
Geological confirmation of the flood. Horn Rev 47: 256- 

62 Ap 
Influence of the Russian liturgy. Bib Sac 61: 166-74 Ja 
Old-time Mississippi plantation. Nation 79: 351-2 N 3 
Russia's civilizing work in Asia, por R of Rs 29: 409, 

427-32 Ap 
Substantiating witness of textual criticism. Bib Stud and Tea 

1 : 24-7 Ja 



Appendix 453 

Tchaikovsky's Music set to the Russian Liturgy. Bib Sac 61: 

571-8 Jl 
Unscientific character of the prevailing higher criticism. 

Bib Stud and Tea i: 348-55 Je 
Book Reviews. Bib Sac 61: 195-203, 390-2, 588-93 Ja, 

Ap, Jl 

Old Testament History, by H. P. Smith; Ultimate Con- 
ceptions of Faith, by G. A. Gordon; Christian Faith in 
an Age of Science, by W. N. Rice; Teaching of Jesus 
concerning his own Mission, by F. H. Foster; New Light 
on the Life of Jesus, by C. A. Briggs. 

1905 
Albert Allen Wright. Am Geol 36: 65-8 Ag 
Ancient gorge of Hudson river. Rec Past 4: 167-71 Je 
Antiquities of the Crimea at Kertsch. Rec Past 4: 339-40 N 
Application of the golden rule. Bib Sac 62: 782-6 O 
A question in casuistry [gifts from Standard Oil Company]. 

Bib Sac 62: 370-6 Ap 
Archaeological notes from Sweden. Rec Past 4: 329-33 N 
Archaeological notes on northern England. Rec Past 4: 

312-4 o 

Contributions of geology to the credibility of the flood. Bib 

Stud and Tea 3: 11-5 Jl 
Early art in Egypt. Rec Past 4: 367-72 D 
Ethics of Standard Oil. Bib Sac 62: 538-559 Jl 
Geological confirmation of the biblical history of Israel from 

Abraham to the Exodus. Bib Stud and Tea 2: 423- 

Glacial movements in southern Sweden. Am Geol 36: 

269-71 N 
In southern Sweden. Nation 81: 275-6 O 5 
Physical conditions in North America during man's earlv 

occupancy. Rec Past 4: 15-26 Ja 
Professor Shimek's criticism of the aqueous origin of lcess. 

Am Geol 35: 236-40 Ap 



454 Story of My Life 



Recent date of lava flows in California. Rec Past 4: 195- 

8 Jl 
Russia after the war. Nation 81: 295 O 12 
Russian peasant. Nation 81: 420-2, 441-2 N 23, 30 
Scientific criticism falsely so-called. Bib Stud and Tea 2: 

38-41 Ja 
Situation in Mantchuria. Nation 80: 265-6 Ap 6 

Book Reviews. Bib' Sac 62: 191-3, 398-400, 593-7 Ja, Ap, Jl 
The Gospel and the Church, by Alfred Loisy ; Central 
Asia and Tibet, by Sven Hedin ; Ethics of the Christian 
Life, by H. E. Robins ; Atonement and Modern Thougln, 
by J. B. Remensnyder. 

1906 . 
Archaeological museum of Florence, Italy. Rec Past 5 : 59-63 F 
Bible and Science, Accord of. New Stan Enc 2 
Cedars of Lebanon. Rec Past 5: 195-04 Jl 
Geology and Genesis on the creation. S S Times Ja 6 
Inscriptions at Dog river, Syria. Rec Past 5 : 1-5 Ja 
Liberty's limitations — the dead hand. Bib Sac 63: 164-6 Ja 
Light from geology upon the crossing of the Red sea by the 

children of Israel. Rec Past 5 : 295-302 O 
My recent European trip. Oberlin Alum Mag 2: 179-84 Mr 
Politics and popular delusions. Bib Sac 63: 735-40 O 
Situation in Russia. Advance Mr 1 
Submerged trees of the Columbia river. Rec Past 5 : 243-3 

Ag 

Book Reviews. Bib Sac 63: 177-83, 364-9, 744-9 Ja, Ap, O 
An Outline of the Theory of Organic Evolution, by M. 
M. Metcalf; Philosophy of Religion, by G. T. Ladd ; Ge- 
ology (vol. 3)), by Salisbury and Chamberlin ; Knowledge 
of Gcd, and its Historical Development, by H. M. Gwat- 
kin; Studies in Biblical Law, by H. M. Wiener. 

1907 
Albert H. Currier. Oberlin Alum Mag 3: 21 1-4 Mr 
A neglected analogy. Bib Sac 64: 179-82 Ja 



Appendix 4S5 



Jericho and San Francisco. S S Times () 5 

Miracle of the strong east wind. S S Times Je 1 

Neglected analogy. Bib Sac 64: 179-82 Ja 

Recent geologic changes as affecting theories of man's (level 

opment. Am Anthrop n s 9: 529-32 Jl-S 
Troglodyte dwellings of Bakhtchi-Sarai. Rec Past 6: 13- 

20 Ja 
Where was Sodom? S S Times Mr 3 
Book Reviews. Bib Sac 64: 194-7, 591-4, 600-2, 770-7 Ja, 

Ji, o 

Golden Days of the Renaissance in Rome, by R. Lan- 
ciani; A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book 
of Psalms, by C. A. Briggs; Light on the Old Testament 
from Babel, by A. T. Clay; Babylonian Expedition of 
the University of Pennsylvania, vol. xx. pt. 1, by H. V. 
Hilprecht; A Genetic History of New England Theology, 
by F. H. Foster; Evolution, Racial and Habitudinal, by 
J. T. Gulick; Systematic Theology, by A. H. Strong; 
Christian Theology, by M. Valentine. 

1908 
Alleged collapse of New England theology. Bib Sac 65: 

601-10 O 
Chronology of the glacial epoch in North America. Proc 

Geol Soc of Lond Ja 16 
Cosmogony. Murray's II Bible Diet pp 182-3 
Fort Ancient. Rec Past 7: 19 1-8 Jl-Ag 
Hebrew Poetry. Murray's II Bible Diet pp 697-700 
Influence of glacial epoch en early history of mankind. Rec 

Past 7: 22-37 J a 
Influence of the glacial epoch upon the early history of 

mankind. Trans Vic Inst Ja 6 
Jew r ish temple in Egypt. Bib Sac 65: 170-3 Ja 
Latest concerning prehistoric man in California. Rec Past 7: 

183-7 Jl-Ag 
New serpent mound in Ohio and its significance. Rec Past 7: 

220-32 S-0 



456 Story of My Life 



Poverty and vice of London. Bib Sac 65: 368-74 Ap 
Scientific confirmations of the deluge. Friends' Wit 1 : 44-6 

Ap 
Solar eclipses and ancient history. Rec Past 7: 275-81 N-D 
Some other Old Testament miracles. Friends' Wit 1: 55-7 

My 

1909 
Calvinism and Darwinism. Bib Sac 66: 685-92 O 
Great Indian quarry of Ohio. Rec Past 8: 192-3 Jl-Ag 
Hittites. Rec Past 8: 308-10 N-D 
Mistakes of Darwin and his would-be followers. Bib Sac 

66: 332-43 Ap 
More about the new serpent mound. Rec Past 8 : 76-7 Mr-Ap 
New serpent mound in Ohio. Ohio Arch Hist Pub 18: 1-12 

Ja 
Significance of the Jewish temple at Elephantine. Rec Past 

8: 245-6 S-0 
Variations of glaciers. Rec Past 8: 113-7 Mr-Ap 

Book Review. Bib Sac 66: 362-6 Ap 
Miracle and Science, by F. J. Lamb. 

1910 
Bcok Review. Bib Sac 67: 156-9 Ja 

Introduction to the New Testament, by T. Zahn. 

1911 
Computing age of gravel terraces. Rec Past 10: 332-3 N-D 
Geological Light on the interpretation of " the tongue " in 

Joshua 15:2, 5; 18:19. Jour Bib Lit 30: 18-28 
Glacial man at Trenton. Rec Past 10: 273-82 S-O 

Book Review. Rec Past 10: 283-92 S-0 

Palestine and its Transformation, by E. Huntington. 

1912 
Logan Elm. Rec Past 11: 264-6 N-D 

Postglacial erosion and oxidation. Bull Geol Soc Am 23 : 
277-96 Je 



Appendix 457 



Book Review. Rec Pnst 12: 43-5 Ja-F 

Deciding Voice of the Monuments, by M'u G. Kyle. 

1913 
Age of pithecanthropus erectus. Rec Past 12:93-4 Mr 
Crossing the Red sea. S S World n s 53: 340-1 Ag 
Dependence of Christianity upon Historical Evidence. Bible 

Champ 16: 3-7, 68-71, 123-127 Ag, S, () 
Destruction cf Sodom. S S World n s 53 : 99-100 Mr 
Dr. Matthew on Wright's Origin and Antiquity of Man. Am 

Anthr 15: 704-6 
How old is mankind. S S Times 55: 52 Ja 25 
Old Fort Sandoski 1745. Ohio State Arch and Hist Soc Pub 

22: 371-80 
Recent Date of the attenuated glacial border in Pennsylva- 
nia. Int Geol Cong 12: 451-3 
Story of the flood as told on the tablets. West Teach 41 : 

62-3 F 
Testimony of the monuments to the persecution in Egypt. 

West Teach 41 : 293-4 Je 
Work of natural forces in relation to time. Nature 92: 

346 N 20 

Book Reviews. Bib Sac 70: 538-42, 695-7 Jh O 

What is the Truth about Jesus Christ, by Friedrich Loofs ; 

New Testament Manuscripts in Freer Collection, by H. 

A. Sanders; Spiritual Interpretation of Nature, by J. Y. 

Simpson. 

1914 
Age of Don River glacial deposits. Bull Geol Sec Am 25 : 

205-214 Je 
Centennial of Perry's victory. Ohio State Arch and Hist Soc 

Pub 23 : 49-80 
Evidence of a glacial dam in the Allegheny river. Bull Gel 

Soc Am 25: 215-218 Je 
Man and the mammoth in America. Rec Past 13: 103-5 M f 
Man and the mammoth in America. Sci Am S 78 : 3 Jl 4 



458 Story of My Life 



Prehistoric flint quarries and iron workings in Sweden. Rec 
Past 13: 82-6 Mr 

Present aspects of the relations between science and reve- 
lation. Bib Sac 71: 513-33 O 

The War. Bib Sac 71: 675-8 O 

Who is Deutero-Isaiah. Bible Champ 18: 178 N 

Work of James Orr. Bible Champ 18: 29 Ag 

1915 
Antediluvians. Int Stan Bible Enc 1 : 143 
Arabah. Int Stan Bible Enc 1: 211-3 
Ararat. Int Stan Bible Enc 1 : 224-5 
Ark of Noah. Int Stan Bible Enc 1 : 246 
Cities of the Plain. Int Stan Bible Enc 1 : 600-1 
Dead Sea. Int Stan Bible Enc 2: 800-11 
Deluge of Noah. Int Stan Bible Enc 2: 820-6 
Eden. Int Stan Bible Enc 2: 897-8 
Euphrates. Int Stan Bible Enc 2: 1038-9 
Invincible ignorance. Bib Sac 72: 669-74 O 
Jordan [river and valley]. Int Stan Bible Enc 3: 1732-36 
Noah. Int Stan Bible Enc 4: 2153 
Paradise. Int Stan Bible Enc 4: 2246-7 
Red Sea. Int Stan Bible Enc 4: 2538-41 
Tigris. Int Stan Bible Enc 5: 2981 
Vale of Siddim. Int Stan Bible Enc 4: 2784-5 

Book Review. Bible Champ 20: 90 S 

Bible as Literature, by I. F. Wood. 
Book Review. Bib Sac 72: 675-80 O 

International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia. 

1916 
Geology of [Lorain] County. Stand Hist Lorain Co 1 : 1-12 
Judge Francis J. Lamb. Bible Champ 21: 115 Mr 
J. E. P. R. imposture. Bible Champ 21: 14-7 Ja 
Newest things in biblical criticism. Advance Ja 13 
Periodicity a law of nature. Bib Sac 73 : 302-17 Ap 



Appendix 4S ( j 

Book Reviews. Bib Sac 73: 324-30 Ap 

Antiquity of Man, by A. Keith; Men of the Old Stone 
Age, by II. F. Osborn. 

Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch. Fund 9: 10-21 
Muir 1 Glacier, Alaska, Soc Alaskan Nat Hist and Ethn, Bui 2 
Passing of Evolution. Fund 7: 5-20 
Relation of the Bible to Science. Monday Club Sermons 6: 

9-31 
Sermons for the Monday Club (22) 

Testimony of the monuments to the truth of the scriptures. 
Fund 2: 7-23 



PUBLICATIONS OF B1BLIOTHECA SACRA COMPANY 

Books by C. Frederick Wright, D.D., LL.D., F.G.S.A. 

The Ice Age in North America and Its Bearings 
upon the Antiquity of Man 

New, thoroughly revised, and greatly enlarged (Fifth) Edi- 
tion. 783 pages, 200 illustrations, 8vo. $5.00 

" His * Ice Age in North America ' I regard as cne of the 
treasures of my book shelves." — Sir Robert Ball. 

" Not a novel in all the list of this year's publications has 
in it any pages of more thrilling interest than can be fcund 
in this book by Professor Wright. There is nothing pedan- 
tic in the narrative, and the most serious themes and start- 
ling discoveries are treated with such charming naturalness 
and simplicity that boys and girls, as well as their seniors, 
will be attracted to the story, and find it difficult to lay it 
aside." — New York Journal of Commerce. 

Scientific Confirmations of Old Testament History 

3d ed., 450 pages, 40 illustrations, i2mo. $2.00 

" For a long time to come every one who has to write upon 
the Deluge, cr touch that wider subject of the attitude of 
the Old Testament to the phenomena of nature, will require 
to know what is written in this book." — The Expository Times. 

Origin and Antiquity of Man 

567 pages, 42 illustrations, i2mo. $2.00 

" The book is popular in style, and will hold the attention 
of the reader on any page to which he opens, while an or- 
derly perusal of the volume is sure to earn for it the appel- 
lation of the romance of science." — Springfield Republican. 

Address BIBLIOTHECA SACRA COMPANY, Oberlin, Ohio 



PUBLICATIONS OF BIBLIOTHECA SACRA COMPANY 

BIBLIOTHECA SACRA A Religioui and Sociological 

Quarterly. Editor, ci. Frederick Wright. $3.00 a year. 



ESSAYS IN PENTATEUCHAL CRITICISM. By Har- 
old M. Wiener. 255 pages. 8vo, $1.62. 
The Coup de Grace to the Wellhausen Critics. 

THE ORIGIN OF THE PENTATEUCH. By Harold M. 
Wiener. 150 pages. 8vo, paper, 40 cents. 
A Comprehensive Answer to the Wellhausen Critics. 

PENTATEUCHAL STUDIES. By Harold M. Wiener. 
350 pages. 8vo, $2.17. 
The Wellhausen Critics in extremis. 



MIRACLE AND SCIENCE: Bible Miracles Examined by 
the Methods, Rules, and Tests of the Science of Jurispru- 
dence as Administered To-day in Courts of Justice. By 
Francis J. Lamb. 350 pages. i2mo, $1.62. 



THE PERSON OF CHRIST. By Edward H. Merrell. 192 
pages. i2mo, $1.00. 



THE DECIDING VOICE OF THE MONUMENTS IN 
BIBLICAL CRITICISM. By Melvin Grove Kyle. 32*5 
pages. 8vo, $1.65. 



ENGLISH LITERARY MISCELLANY. By Theodore W. 
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and 2d series. 334 pages each, i2mo. $1.50 each. 



SPIRITS OF JUST MEN MADE PERFECT: A Study of 
the Intermediate State. By John E. Wishart, Professor 
of Old Testament Literature, Xenia Theological Seminary. 
178 pages. i2mo, $1.00. 

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